Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has vowed to take to the streets braving all kinds of repressions unleashed by the ruling party Awami League on the protests movement.
“Terror like attacks, killing and arrest cannot suppress our movement. BNP cannot be removed from the streets. We will carry on our movement to topple the government,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a press conference in the city’s party office in Gulshan.
Criticising the attacks on BNP workers in the capital on Thursday, he said, “We had prior permission for the rally. But Awami League equipped with arms and police swooped on our people.”
Meanwhile, BNP announced a fresh party programme across the country on September 18 protesting the attacks on BNP workers.
“Protest rallies will be held in all the metropolitans including Dhaka and other districts and Upazilas. The Nayapaltan rally will be held in the afternoon,” Fakhrul said.
Describing the attack in the capital on Thursday, he said, “We have been holding rallies in 16 points in the capital protesting the soaring price hikes of fuel and daily essentials and the killing of Noor-e-Alam, Abdur Rahim in Bhola and Shaon in Narayanganj.”
“During the rally in Pallabi in the capital, Awami League workers equipped with sticks and arms swooped on our party men, leaving some 75 people injured. Police also detained eight people,” he added.
Regarding the police role, “When we try to escape the AL attack, police charged them and fired bullets and tear shell gas. The police should have a neutral role, but the police acted in favour of the Awami League terrors to thwart our democratic movement.”
The BNP Secretary General also criticised the government for stripping the rights of the people.
“Awami League is an anti-democratic force. They have robbed people’s rights. Awami League has established one party rule in the name of BAKSAL. This party again wants to establish that rule,” he added.
Regarding the national election, he said, “The government does not want to create an election environment. The Awami League is destroying the democratic ambience. The ruling party wants to create such an environment so that the opposition does not participate in the election.”
Over the last few months BNP has been facing huge confrontation and obstructions when they are trying to hold their programmes to protest, what they say, the government’s mismanagement and misrule.
Even, on Thursday, the European Union in Bangladesh raised concerns about escalating protest-related violence ahead of the parliamentary polls.
The BNP top brass leaders alleged that the government is creating obstructions to hold their peaceful programmes including protest to the soaring price hike, load shedding and sinking economy.
Recently BNP faced serious resistances by the law enforcers during their party’s 43rd founding anniversary on September 1, in at least 20 districts, leaving one of its workers killed by police firing in Narayanganj.
