The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday announced that the party and the other like-minded opposition political parties would hold sit-in programmes at all the Dhaka entry points on Saturday.

The party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, addressing the Naya Paltan grand rally as the chief guest on Friday afternoon, announced the new agitation programme to press home their one-point demand to resign the government and holding the upcoming general election under a neutral government.

He said that the opposition political parties would hold the sit-in programmes from 11:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday.

The Friday’s grand rally of the main opposition political party began at the party’s central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka minutes after 2:00pm on Friday.

Though the rally was scheduled to begin at 2:00pm, the party leaders and activists in hundreds began to arrive at the rally venue from early in the morning.

Defying senior leaders’ instructions, several thousand activists thronged Naya Paltan area on Thursday night and stayed there overnight.

Visiting the rally venue at about 11:30am on Friday, it was seen that thousands of party leaders and activists from different parts of the city arriving with processions.

Carrying banners, festoons, placards and portraits of the party’s top leaders, they were shouting anti-government slogans.

Roads and alleys stretching from Bijoynagar to Nayapaltan were crowded with BNP activists, halting traffic in the area.

Many leaders and activists of the party alleged that they had to face checking by law enforcement agencies at the entry points of the capital.

The party made a big stage on nine trucks, rolled out red carpets, and installed loudspeakers.

Two separate stages were also erected for the cultural activists and journalists.

Artistes from the BNP’s cultural body performed patriotic songs to keep the crowds invigorated under the scorching sun and rain.

BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units organised the rally to press home their one-point demand.

Apart from BNP, 37 like-minded political parties and alliances are also going to arrange separate rallies in different city areas to press home the one-point demand that includes the resignation of the Awami League government and holding the next election under a neutral government.

Besides, three associate bodies of the ruling Awami League—Juba League, Swechchasebak League and Chhatra League— also held a rally in front of the south gate of Baitul Mukarram mosque which is 1.7 km away from the BNP’s rally at Naya Paltan.

The rallies of the ruling and opposition parties were scheduled to be held on Thursday, but they rescheduled their programmes for Friday as Dhaka Metropolitan Police authorities did not allow them to use their chosen venues on a workday for the sake of avoiding public suffering.

On Thursday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police gave BNP and Awami League’s three associate bodies permission to hold their rallies at Nayapaltan and Baitul Mukarram respectively on 23 conditions.

The police authorities asked BNP to limit their rally from Kakrail’s Nightingale crossing to Rajarbagh Police Hospital, while the AL associate bodies have to restrict their rally from Mahanagar Natya Mancha to Muktangan.