The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has approved BNP to use Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital instead of proposed Naya Paltan as the venue for its rally slated for 10 December under 26 conditions.
In a letter issued Tuesday, DMP said staging the rally at Naya Paltan, opposite of BNP’s party office, will create traffic jams and cause public to suffer.
“Instead of the said place, permission has been granted to BNP to hold Dhaka divisional rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, Shahbagh, Dhaka from 12:00pm to 4:30pm on Saturday, 10 December, subject to the following conditions being duly observed,” it read.
The 26 conditions include getting permission from the proper authority of the venue; limiting activities within the venue; deploying a sufficient number of volunteers; installing CCTV cameras in Suhrawardy Udyan; installing metal detectors for checking the delegates and following health guidelines while conducting the rally.
The BNP workers were also instructed not to set up loudspeakers and projectors outside of Suhrawardy Udyan; not to create gathering on roads adjacent to Sunhrawardy Udyan; not to broadcast any speech or display any content or caricature that may hurt religious sentiment and not to carry blunt instruments like sticks and rods under the guise of carrying festoons and banners.
DMP in its list of conditions also prohibited the BNP from delivering instigating speech or distributing such leaflets and traveling to the venue in processions.
People can come to assemble at the venue two hours before the start of the rally, said the DMP letter.
As part of the move to continue the pace of its ongoing movement, the BNP on 27 September announced a series of public rallies in 10 divisional cities to denounce the price hike of daily essentials and fuels, the death of five party men in previous police action in Bhola, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Jashore, and to ensure the freedom of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The party has already arranged rallies in Chattogram, Mymensingh, Khulna, Rangpur, Barishal, Faridpur, and Sylhet braving various obstacles and transport strikes.
BNP will conclude the divisional rallies through a mass gathering in Dhaka city on 10 December, coinciding with International Human Rights day.
The BNP has long been demanding that the next general election be held under a caretaker government, not under any political government–a demand sharply rejected by the ruling Awami League as the constitution does not contain any such provision.
