Law enforcement officers are on the alert at Naya Paltan and adjoining areas to prevent any untoward incident as a mass sit-in program of the BNP and other like-minded opposition parties, alliances and organizations is underway in the capital and other divisions of the county on Wednesday.
Security has been strengthened in the areas, and the police are searching the bags of leaders and activists who are coming to attend the program.
Such has been the scenario at Naya Paltan since 9am, reports Bangla Tribune.
Even though the BNP's mass sit-in program was allowed to start at 11am, party leaders and activists continued to come in front of the Naya Paltan party office with a procession before 9am.
A police team led by Mehedi Hasan, deputy commissioner (DC) of the Lalbagh zone of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), was checking bags with barricades on the road at the Fakirapool intersection.
Besides, members of law enforcement agencies were also on the alert at Nightingale and Kakrail intersections.
Volunteers from the BNP were heard saying that they are being asked to stand on the street in front of the BNP central office. They are asking activists to move from the road in front of the Polwel supermarket.
Apart from this, traffic movement is being asked to keep normal.
In this regard, DMP Motijheel zone Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hayatul Islam Khan told Bangla Tribune the police are ready to handle any kind of unpleasant incident.
The DC also said that the BNP has been given permission on the condition that it does not cause public suffering during its program.
“We also request them not to carry out the program blocking the road,” said the official.
DMP Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said they urged BNP to observe the program keeping traffic movement normal. "They (BNP) have to take the responsibility if there is a disruption in traffic."
The four-hour program began at 10 am and will continue till 2 pm — separately by opposition parties — to realize their 10-point demand, including holding the next polls under a non-party neutral government.
It is the second program of the simultaneous movement after the mass procession by the 33 opposition parties on December 30.
