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The 11th spell of a 36-hour road-rail-waterway blockade across the country called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies will start at 6.00am tomorrow (Tuesday) to press for immediate resignation of the Awami League government.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi made the announcement at a press conference held virtually on Sunday. "The one-point anti-government movement called by the BNP will be continuing," said the BNP leader.
The opposition has observed 10 phases of blockade and three phases of hartal since November following the attack on its grand rally in the city's Purana Paltan area on October 28.
The senior BNP leader also said, since October 28, around 20,000 of leaders and activists had been arrested, even their family members couldn't sleep at home owing to fear of getting detained by the police.
Addressing the press conference, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the party high command was being apprised of assaults on BNP leaders and activists who took part in human chain programmes held on Sunday, marking the International Human Rights Day.
"Awami League cannot accept the presence of opposition by any means, so they attacked the human chain programmes," he said.
Criticising the government, Mr Rizvi said the government was taking all-out preparations for the upcoming farcical election in an atmosphere quiet like a grave.
To this aim, the government had adopted a policy to conduct mass arrest of BNP men who raised voices, he added.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that the party would observe the Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory day on Thursday (14 Dec) and Saturday (16 Dec) respectively.
Referring to the volatile onion market, the BNP leader said the government didn't want to pay heed to the commoners' woes.
Dhaka City North and South BNP organised a human chain programme in front of the National Press Club to observe the Human Rights Day on Sunday.
A good number of party leaders and activists joined the programme that started before 11.00am. A member of the BNP standing committee, Selima Rahman, joined the programme as the chief guest.
She said the BNP would continue its protest until the fall of the 'fascist' government.
"At present the people of the country are united against the fascist government. Bangladesh is now ranked number one in terms of human rights violations," she added.