BANGLADESH OPPOSITION NONSTOP BLOCKADES FROM JAN 1
Dhaka, 28 Shafar 1435/31 December 2013 (MINA) – Having failed to carry out its march again yesterday, the BNP-led 18-party alliance announced nonstop “peaceful” blockades from January 1 to resist what it called a “farcical election” slated for January 5.
The opposition alliance will also stage demonstrations across the country today, protesting against the obstruction of its “March for Democracy” programme, Dhaka Tribune quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
“The blockade programme will start at 6am on January 1 and continue until the announcement of the cancellation of the election schedule,” Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, adviser to the BNP chairperson, said yesterday evening at his residence.
The BNP-led opposition alliance failed to observe its Dhaka march programme on Sunday and Monday.
Previously, it had observed five spells of nationwide blockades, demanding that the schedule for the 10th national elections be cancelled and the polls be held under a non-partisan interim government.
On Sunday, BNP Vice-Chairman Hafizuddin Ahmed announced that party leaders and activists would keep staging sit-ins at bus, train and launch terminals across the country.
Law enforcers also kept Khaleda’s Gulshan residence cordoned off like on the previous day. Four sand-laden trucks were parked, blocking the roads leading out of the house.
Law enforcers requested journalists to leave the front of the Russian Embassy for security reasons. The media left the place and took positions on the other side of the road. Residents of the adjacent buildings refused to let them use the rooftops, claiming that police had asked them not to allow journalists in their buildings.
When journalists were barred from crossing barricades on Sunday to cover activities around Khaleda’s residence, they used buildings in the vicinity to take pictures and enter her residence.
BNP Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman, lawmaker Rasheda Aktar Hira and former lawmaker Newaz Halima tried to enter Khaleda’s residence around noon but the law enforcers prevented them and picked them up. Police, however, released them two hours later. (T/P09/P04).
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
