New reality of BNP flash processions: Gather, take photos, and wrap up in two mins

On a late autumn evening on Wednesday last week, 20-25 activists of the BNP and its affiliated parties gathered in Mirpur.

They brandished a PVC banner demanding the immediate release of party chairperson Khaleda Zia – currently undergoing treatment at a Dhaka hospital.

One of the protestors was busy taking photos and videos of the gathering.

Just after crossing the Benasree Palli area – two minutes into the procession – someone shouted, "Police are coming!".

At these words, the protestors immediately dispersed, breaking into small groups and running into adjacent alleys.

The rally lasted a little over two minutes.

This is the new model of protests that opposition parties have adopted. Gather in a location, quickly take photos and videos, and then disappear.

These photos and videos are then posted on social media, some even sent to reporters covering the political beat.

As the photos are distributed, it creates an image of many protests being held across the country.

The state of the protests – their numbers, strength and security – are digital mirages.

In reality, they last only a few minutes. It's a blink and miss situation.  

Speaking to The Business Standard today, Joint General Secretary of the central Chhatra Dal Tauhidur Rahman Awal, said the police behaviour right now was like they were 'directly at war'." 

"We had planned a procession from the capital's Moghbazar to Hatirjheel this morning. At 7:30am, before the procession could start, we saw that 40-50 policemen were stationed at the Moghbazar junction and the nearby rail gate.

"Police presence was also seen on the four roads from FDC to Hatirjheel," he said.

In the face of law enforcers dotting the roads, the procession instead started after crossing FDC and ended in front of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Karwan Bazar.

"We could not march for more than 3-4 minutes. If the police or AL catch us, they will beat us up. They will shoot us in the leg and cripples us. If we are taken to the thana, there we police, alongside Chhatra League and Jubo League activists will beat us," Awal said.

"Unarmed activists of a political party cannot fight with state forces…we aren't armed like AL or police," he added.

Against this backdrop, the BNP's only option is quick protests without getting caught in the law enforcer's net.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Assistant Commissioner (Mirpur Zone) Hasan Muhammad Mohtarim said they rarely saw any processions by the BNP-Jamaat men.

"They operate in a clandestine manner. They choose locations where policemen aren't deployed, gather there, take photos and leave. They fear arrests as most are facing several criminal charges against them," he said.

But areas free of law enforcers have become harder to find, amid a security blanket that has shrouded the city since the election schedule was announced last week.

Currently, 425 units of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and 231 platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been deployed across the country.

In addition, 2.13 lakh regular police force deployed countrywide to maintain law and order situation during the protest programmes of the political parties.

The heavy security measures have also meant that the hartals aren't like the ones seen decades ago.

Earlier, picketers would even overturn rickshaws plying the roads on hartal day.

Cars wouldn't take to the streets and the city would come to a standstill.

The hartal would work as the word means – a concerted cessation of work and business especially as a protest against a political situation.

But on Monday – the final day of the 48-hour hartal called by the BNP, Jamaat and other parties to press home their demand of holding the elections under a caretaker government and to reject the election schedule – traffic was almost regular.

The police won't spare anyone, Saiful Islam, a Jubo Dal leader, told The Business Standard.

"Whether they have cases or not, they won't be spared. The police's only aim is to arrest BNP men wherever they are found," he said.

"They don't allow us to hold peaceful processions. They treat us like most wanted criminals. We have no right to stage demonstrations or bring out processions anymore in the country," he said.