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After hartal, BNP returns to 48hr blockade from Wed

UNB . Dhaka
20 Nov 2023 16:57:12 | Update: 20 Nov 2023 17:41:15
After hartal, BNP returns to 48hr blockade from Wed
Police personnel stand guard during a rally by Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) activists demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, in Dhaka on October 28, 2023 — AFP Photo

Giving a pause for a day after its 48-hour hartal, the BNP and like-minded parties will enforce a 48-hour fresh road-rail-waterway blockade across the country starting from Wednesday morning to protest the schedule for the next national election announced by the Election Commission.

Party Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi came up with the announcement at a virtual press briefing on Monday afternoon.

It will be the sixth phase of the blockade programme of the opposition parties since October 31.

He said the blockade will begin at 6am on Wednesday and end at 6am on Friday.

Rizvi said the blockade is also meant for mounting pressure on the government to quit, hold the next election under a non-party neutral government and release party leaders and activists, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

He said other opposition parties, who have long been carrying out the simultaneous movement with BNP, will also observe a similar programme.

Earlier, the party and like-minded parties enforced a 48-hour countrywide shutdown from Sunday and it will end at 6am on Tuesday.

Rizvi thanked the country’s people and the opposition leaders and activists for making their hartal programme a success.

The opposition parties observed blockades in five phases to mount pressure on the Awami League government to quit power and hold the next election under a non-partisan administration.

They also observed a nationwide dawn-to-dusk hartal on October 29 in protest against the attacks on BNP’s grand rally at Naya Paltan that ended amid the incidents of torching vehicles and clashes, leaving three people dead.

Half an hour into the start of BNP's much-talked-about grand rally at Naya Paltan on October 28, BNP leaders and workers locked in a clash with the ruling party activists and police at Kakrail. Soon violent clashes spread around Naya Paltan, foiling the rally midway.

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