A ‘youth rally’ of three associate bodies of BNP has begun at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan in the presence of a huge number of opposition leaders and workers.
The rally formally began around 3:28pm with the recitation from the holy Quran.
The rally started one hour and twenty-eight minutes after the scheduled time as the makeshift stage set up for the programme collapsed apparently due to the extra load of leaders who gathered on it at a time.
The incident occurred when Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal President Sultan Salahuddin Tuku was speaking to formally open the rally around 1:50pm.
Though the rally was scheduled to begin at 2pm, the organisers could not start in time following the incident. The party leaders were seen repeatedly urging the followers to sit down on the ground and maintain discipline.
Artists from the BNP's cultural body continued to perform patriotic songs on the broken stage to keep the crowds invigorated under the scorching sun. They were performing songs and small dramas since noon.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir stepped on the collapsed stage around 2:45 PM. He will address the programme as the chief guest and give the youth various directions to intensify the ongoing one-point movement.
Later, party activists with the help of the employees of the decoration company repaired the cracked stage.
The leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies in their thousands converged on Suhrawardy Udyan to press home their demand for holding the next election under a neutral government.
Youth leaders and activists from various parts of Dhaka wearing different coloured caps and carrying banners, festoons, placards and portraits of the party’s top leaders have started gathering at the venue in processions since morning.
Apart from the main rally venue, the BNP loyalists took a position on the nearby roads, disrupting traffic in the adjoining areas.
A large number of members of law enforcement agencies have been deployed around the rally venue to fend off any untoward incident.
BNP associate bodies--Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, Chhatra Dal, and Swechchasebak Dal--have arranged the rally with their main objective to involve the young generation in the street movement for establishing their rights.
The three organisations earlier held five youth rallies and got a huge response from the young people.
On June 2, three BNP associate bodies announced six youth rallies in Chattogram, Bogura, Khulna, Barishal, Sylhet, and Dhaka to drum up the young generation’s support for the ongoing movement demanding holding the next polls under a caretaker government.
