BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has claimed that the public supports his party’s blockade, saying the entire nation is united today.
The senior BNP leader, one of the few who is still not behind bars, was addressing a protest march on Dhaka’s Uttara-Ashulia road on Thursday, the second day of a blockade initiated by the party.
Rizvi led the march at 8am, with leaders and activists of the party blocking the road.
The 48-hour blockade, set to end at 6am on Thursday, is the third one called by the BNP and its allies in two weeks, aimed at putting pressure on the Awami League government to resign and pave the way for the upcoming election to be held under a non-partisan caretaker government.
Following a brief pause over the weekend, the BNP and its like-minded parties called its second nationwide blockade on Sunday with many of its top leaders in custody.
After a rally on October 28 that was foiled by clashes with law enforcement, the BNP called a hartal the next day and subsequently announced a three-day countrywide blockade to protest attacks on its gathering and arrest of its senior leaders.