A fresh spell of nationwide 72-hour road-rail-waterway blockade, called by the BNP-led 18-party alliance demanding cancellation of the election schedule and arranging the polls under a non-partisan administration, got underway on Saturday morning.
The blockade started at 6am and it will continue until 6am Tuesday.
BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi announced the fresh protest programme at a press briefing at the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office on Friday night.
“We had announced to hold peaceful nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, but the government did not permit us to stage our programme. Instead, they filed a false case against our top leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir,” he told reporters.
“Under the circumstances, we’re announcing the non-stop 72-hour road-rail-waterway blockade programme from Saturday 6am,” he added.
The blockade is also meant for protesting the filing of ‘false’ cases against opposition leaders and activists, denial of permission to it to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday afternoon and the continued repression and oppression on opposition leaders and activists.
Earlier, the opposition combine enforced a 71-hour road-rail-waterway blockade from 6am Tuesday to 5am Friday protesting the announcement of the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls.
On November 25, the Chief Election Commissioner announced that the 10th parliamentary elections will be held on January 5 next.
There had been violent incidents like vandalising and torching of vehicles, clashes between blockade supporters and police and ruling party activists, arrest of opposition leaders and activists and crude bomb blasts allover the country, leaving 17 people dead.
Besides, over 400 vehicles were either torched or vandalised, and some 600 crude bombs blasted during the period. The country’s rail communications also got disrupted on various routes and several trains derailed at different places following the removal of fishplates from rail tracks.
Source: UNBConnect