The BNP will hold its December-10 rally at any cost, the party’s standing committee members decided at an emergency meeting today.

The ruling Awami League yesterday drew heavy flak from its left-leaning allies for ignoring them in taking many crucial political decisions  and also for already starting “electioneering” for the next national polls.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said the BNP will not be allowed to hold any rally blocking the roads.

The BNP is no longer hell bent on holding its December 10 rally at Nayapaltan and it wants to avoid confrontation with the government over the venue.

The BNP wants to hold the Dhaka rally in front of its Nayapaltan headquarters on December 10. But the government said the party must hold it at Suhrawardy Udyan, not Nayapaltan. Both the Awami League and the BNP are at loggerheads over the rally venue.

Soon after the DMP gave permission to BNP to hold its December 10 rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, the party said it will stage the programme in front of the Nayapaltan office.

BNP leaders and activists have started thronging Cumilla Town Hall ground, the rally venue, since early morning.

BNP supporters have been heading to Cumilla town since this morning to join their party’s rally in Cumilla Town Hall premises tomorrow.

Law enforcers have taken all-out measures, including keeping Dhaka city BNP leaders and activists under close watch, to preempt “potential subversive activities” centering on the BNP’s Dhaka rally on December 10.

Contrast in administrative actions regarding political rallies could not be starker when it comes to BNP and other parties.

BNP leaders and activists from different districts have started gathering in colourful attires at Abdul Aziz Institution ground in Faridpur’s Kamarpur area as the party’s divisional mass rally is scheduled to begin at 11:00am today.

Ahead of BNP’s divisional mass rally in Faridpur on Saturday (November 12, 2022), police have started conducting raids at the houses of local BNP leaders and activists, including that of a leader who died 12 years ago.

The US has urged Bangladesh government to create a safe environment for people to peacefully assemble and voice their concerns, and relatedly, for opposition parties to campaign without facing intimidation and repression.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (November 6, 2022) asked people not to forget the terrible days of the arson violence unleashed by "BNP-Jamaat" in the name of movement.

Newly appointed Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq today said police have nothing to do with politics.

AL must stop obstructing the opposition’s right to free assembly

As the recent BNP rallies drew huge crowds in different cities, the Awami League is now preparing to hold rallies and other programmes across the country from next month apparently to show its strength.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said the people have woken up and the Awami League government that has established “autocracy” would be washed away by the strong wave of their movement.

Mass arrests and police raids of opposition party members’ homes raise serious concerns about violence and intimidation ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Bangladesh due next year, Human Rights Watch said today (October 10, 2022).

The ruling Awami League and its arch-rival the BNP are working to bring like-minded political parties into their fold ahead of the next parliamentary election.