BNP's Suhrawardy Udyan rally begins
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will be present as the chief guest, and Dhaka Metropolitan South BNP convener Abdus Salam will preside over the rally
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has started its public rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital to protest the recent attacks on its sit-in programmes.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Monday (31 July) allowed the BNP to hold its protest rally at Suhrawardy Udyan.
"Whenever they applied for permission we gave them. This time they wouldn't be able to broadcast or publish any speech of any convicted person," Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Joint Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker said.
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Meanwhile, the ruling Awami League has brought out processions at the ward level.
Earlier, BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas said the party will no longer seek police permission for holding political programmes.
"We are staging this movement for people's rights. We will peacefully organise democratic programmes anywhere in the country, without seeking permission. No one will be able to stop us," he said on 28 July.
The work of preparing the stage has been going on since Monday (31 July) morning. The temporary stage is being constructed on 4 trucks.
BNP leaders and activists started gathering at Suhrawardy Udyan from the afternoon.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will be present as the chief guest, and Dhaka Metropolitan South BNP convener Abdus Salam will preside over the rally scheduled to start at 3pm today. Dhaka Metropolitan North and South member secretaries Aminul Haque and Tanveer Ahmed Robin will direct the rally.
On 29 July, the party held a public meeting to protest against the attack on BNP's sit-in programme at the entry points to the capital. Apart from Dhaka, BNP is holding public rallies in all the districts and cities of the country simultaneously.
Ganatantra Manch, Gana Odhikar Parishad, Labour Party, and NDM are also organising similar programmes.
The country has been in fear of another round of havoc given the recent political violence that rocked Dhaka. Most eyes have been firmly set on the BNP-announced countrywide rallies, and AL's sit-ins and processions in the wards of the city.
Saturday (29 July) saw a spate of clashes in the capital's Jatrabari, Gabtoli and Dholaikhal after the BNP went ahead with its sit-ins despite not seeking or being given police permission.
The police took a heavy-handed approach, cracking down on the BNP programmes at different points in the capital. Vehicles were torched while police and opposition members left injured. Over 100 were arrested.
Police, meanwhile, filed at least 13 cases against 700 people over Saturday's violence, while the BNP, calling for the ouster of the government, prepare for the countrywide rallies without applying for permission.
The ruling AL has made its intentions clearly known: it will not remain silent spectators, if things go awry. Although they postponed their "peace rally", the party announced that it would demonstrate at city wards.
