The Ganatantra Moncho, an alliance of seven political parties, on Friday announced a three-hour public sit-in protest in Dhaka and other divisional cities on January 11 as part of the simultaneous movement of the opposition parties and alliances to unseat the current government. Sheikh Rafiqul Islam Babul, the convener of Bhasani Anusari Parishad and also a leader of the alliance, announced this programme from their mass procession today. He said they will hold mass sit-ins on January 11 in all divisions, demanding the release of all the top opposition leaders, including Begum Khaleda Zia, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Mirza Abbas, Pratim Das, who were imprisoned in "fabricated, false" cases. The sit-in in Dhaka will be held from 11am to 2am in front of the Jatiya Press Club, Babul added. Earlier in the day, the Ganatantra Moncho brought out a mass procession from the Jatiya Press Club around 11am. The procession ended at the Nightingale intersection in Kakrail after parading different roads through the Paltan intersection and Bijoy Nagar Road. Also Read: Simultaneous Movement: Ganatantra Mancha brings out mass procession in Dhaka Meanwhile, Biplobi Workers Party General Secretary Saiful Haque said, "No national election is possible under this government. Also, no fair election is possible in the future while this government is in charge. That is why we said this government should be forced to resign before the election. And after that, an interim government will have to be formed. There is no alternative to that." "The BNP announced a 10-point demand; we came up with 14 points. A liaison committee has already been formed. At a discussion yesterday, we decided that these points would be the basis of our simultaneous movement, which we will present to the people as soon as possible." Ganasanghati Andolan Chief Coordinator Junaid Saki said the 2018 election is a disgraceful day for the nation. "This government has joepardised the state by looting votes in the dark of the night." The BNP and other opposition parties and alliances are observing December 30 as a "Black Day," marking the anniversary of the 11th parliamentary election held on this day in 2018. Around 33 like-minded political parties, including the BNP, are holding mass procession programmes in the capital today to push for their 10-point demand, including the resignation of the government, dissolution of parliament, transfer of power to a non-partisan caretaker government and formation of a new election commission.  

BNP and Bangladesher Biplobi Workers Party on Wednesday agreed to wage a simultaneous street movement to force the Awami League government to quit power. “We believe we can end misrule if we can initiate a movement. The main thing is that we agreed to force the government to step down through a movement,” said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.  He made the remarks after holding a dialogue with Bangladesher Biplobi Workers Party at its Topkhana Road office in the city. Fakhrul both parties reached a consensus on a number of fundamental issues during the talks. He hoped that they will be to resolve the remaining issues gradually through discussions.  “We have decided that those of us who are reaching a consensus will start a simultaneous movement from our respective position. The movement will determine its future shape and trend,” Fakhrul said. READ: BNP reaches consensus with Ganosanghati Andolan on 'simultaneous’ movement:Fakhrul He said the movements in the country turned futile in the past with the participation of political parties in the same way they are following now. “We believe that we all the political parties will be able to defeat the misrule and achieve a victory of people by working together.” The BNP leader said they decided to wage a movement after discussing various issues, including the jailing of their party chairperson Khaleda, keeping their party acting chairman in exile, the filing of 'false' cases against their party’s around 35 lakh leaders and activists and the prevailing awful situation in the country. “We’ve also reached a consensus that a new election commission will be constituted after the ouster of the government and the dissolution of parliament, and then a fresh election will be held with the participation of people and the political parties,” he said. He said they will engage in talks further about the proposals of the Biplobi Workers Party for reforming the state, amending the constitution and strengthening the democratic institutions. “We’ll come up with a joint statement on the issues within a very short time.” Replying to a question, he said their party has a plan to form the government with the parties that will join the movement for the restoration of democracy after winning the next election. Earlier, a BNP delegation, led by Fakhrul sat in talks with Biplobi Workers Party around 1:20 pm. Biplobi Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haque led the eight-member delegation of his party. Saiful said people want to see an effective unity among the opposition parties in a coordinated way to get rid of misrule. “We’ve reached a consensus in today’s (Wednesday’s) discussion about a simultaneous movement. We’ll strengthen it in the future,” he said. The left party leader said their party thinks it will not be possible to restore people’s voting and democratic rights and ensure a free, fair and credible election if the current government is not forced to quit power. “That’s why we agreed to wage a (simultaneous) movement through the talks.” He called upon the country’s people to participate in the movement to be waged by the opposition parties in the future. Saiful, however, said they don’t want to initiate the movement just for a change of the government or bringing a party into power by ousting another. He said their movement is also meant for reforming the entire state and governance system and amending Article 70 of the Constitution. “A democratic reform is also necessary. In today's discussion, we have presented a 31-point proposal of our party to the BNP leaders to overcome the current political crisis.” Earlier on Tuesday, BNP held talks with Ganosanghati Andolan and reached a consensus to wage a 'simultaneous’ movement to ensure the fall of the Awami League government and establish a polls-time neutral government. On May 24, BNP formally began a dialogue with other opposition parties with the first meeting with Nagorik Oikya aimed at forging unity among opposition political parties. Three days later, the party also sat with the Labour Party, one of the components of the 20-party alliance.