The leaders and activists of BNP thronged the road in front of the party's central office in Nayapaltan on Thursday morning, a day before their rescheduled grand rally, forcing police to remove them to ensure smooth traffic.
A group of BNP leaders and workers from different areas converged on the BNP office around 10 am chanting various anti-government slogans.
As the traffic was disrupted due to the gathering of people on the busy road, police came to the BNP office around 11 am and asked the opposition activists to leave the area within 10 minutes as it is a working day.
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Complying with the police instruction, the BNP leaders and activists vacated the area by five minutes.
BNP senior leaders, including its Dhaka south city unit convener Abus Salam and north city unit Aman Ullah Aman and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, were also seen to instruct the party followers to leave the area and converge on there on Friday noon for the grand rally.
A large number of law enforcers with prison vans, riot trucks, and water cannons have been deployed in the Nayapaltan area since Wednesday amid growing tension over the BNP’s grand rally.
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Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner Rowshanul Haque Saikat said any mass gathering on the busy roads on the working day causes public suffering. “So, we’ve deployed additional police force here to ensure that people do not suffer. We will not let anyone create chaos and gathering here.”
The collapsible gate of the BNP central office was shut to discourage the party men from coming to the area.
BNP office staff Shamim Ahmed said the party senior leaders have instructions not to allow party workers to enter the office without any reason. “That is why the collapsible gate has been kept closed.”
Earlier on Wednesday night, BNP decided to defer its grand rally, scheduled for Thursday, to Friday. The party said it will hold the grand rally in Dhaka’s Nayapaltan area as it is unwilling to hold the programme at Golapbagh ground as suggested by the police authorities.
After a marathon meeting of the BNP standing committee members, party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the announcement at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office