The two-day blockade called by the BNP in its third phase began on Wednesday morning. At the beginning of the day, long-distance bus services from the city’s bus terminals were almost stopped, but some traffic was seen on the streets of Dhaka.
In support of the blockade, BNP and its affiliated organizations took out torch processions in different places of the country including Chittagong, Sylhet, Feni, Sirajganj, Narsingdi, Bhola.
The party has been holding a series of programs ever since its October 28 general meeting in Dhaka to demand the next parliamentary elections under a non-partisan government.
After the October 29 hartal, the BNP observed a three-day total blockade in the first phase from October 31 to November 2. After a two-day weekend, the party again observed the blockade on November 5 and 6. The party is holding a two-day blockade program from today Wednesday with a break on November 7.
Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP Ruhul Kabir Rizvi called for the success of this all-out blockade of the leaders and activists across the country. At the same time, he strongly criticized it by demanding house-to-house police searches of his party’s leaders and activists across the country.
Earlier, several vehicles including buses were set on fire and vandalized throughout the country during the strike-blockade.
Image of Dhaka in the morning
At the beginning of the third phase of the blockade, traffic in the capital Dhaka was much less than on normal days. Mohakhali bus terminal area is usually crowded with passengers for long-distance buses in the morning, but it was not seen today.
However, although buses and CNG auto-rickshaws are visible in some areas, private vehicles are rarely seen on the roads. Few vehicles were seen plying on Vijay Sarani, one of Dhaka’s busiest roads.
As the day progresses, the traffic of office goers and working people increases and bus stops get crowded.
Long distance bus service is stopped at Gabtali Bus Terminal. However, some city service buses are plying in the area and private cars are somewhat more visible today than during previous blockades.
A tight presence of law and order forces including the police was seen at the junctions and important places of the city.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been deployed across the country, including the capital, for the blockade called by BNP and like-minded parties for the past few days.
Meanwhile, a bus parked near the Ansar camp in Malibag was set ablaze on Tuesday around 11 pm. Later, two fire service units went and extinguished the fire.
The party leaders have already said that the party is carrying out its ‘final agitation’ program to demand the next parliamentary elections under a non-partisan government.
Meanwhile, the party alleged that since the October 28 programme, the police have arrested more than 8,951 party workers in more than 168 cases.
Since October 28, a large number of BNP leaders, including several senior leaders, have been arrested across the country at the district and upazila levels on various charges including sabotage.
Many of the senior leaders have been arrested and sent to remand and jailed in the case filed for the attack on the residence of the Chief Justice and the killing of policemen in Dhaka.
Among the arrested leaders are the party’s general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Mirza Abbas, Moazzem Hossain Alal, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Aminul Haque, Shajahan Omar, Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, Bilkis Jahan Shirin and other leaders of various levels of the party.
BNP leaders said that at the end of this round of blockade, they will announce a new movement program to force the government to meet their demands.
Source: BBC
Tags: phase blockade longdistance buses stopped traffic limited Dhaka
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