Internal and long-distance bus services have been suspended due to the strike. There was no three-wheelers on roads. Water vessel services with Bhola is also closed. In this situation, Barisal has been virtually isolated from the whole country for the last two days.
Despite this, the party’s grassroots leaders and activists started gathering at the city from different districts and upazilas ahead of today’s divisional mass rally of BNP in Barishal.
Many of the leaders and activists choose different fishing trawlers, hired launches or boats as vehicles to reach Barishal from Barguna, Bhola, Jhalakathi, Patuakhali and Pirojpur.
On Friday morning, thousands of BNP leaders and activists reached Barisal to join the divisional mass rally on 41 trawlers.
The leaders and activists of Barguna Sadar, Amtali, Taltoli, Patharghata, Bamna and Betagi upazilas with trawlers first met in the Payra River. From there, he came to Barisal after a 12-hour journey through Sugandha River of Jhalakathi.
Similarly, many people who came to Barisal from other districts and upazilas in advance spent the night in trawlers or launches in fear of police harassment.
Today, on the day of the rally, many leaders and activists are seen coming to the rally on different boats.
All the photos were taken by The Daily Star photographer Titu Das yesterday (November 5, 2022).
