BNP allowed to hold rally at Golapbagh field
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has permitted BNP to hold its rally at Dhaka's Golapbagh field on 10 December. DMP commissioner Golam Faruq confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo.
The party's vice chairman, AZM Zahid Hossain, on Friday around 3:00 pm briefed the media over the issue in front of the DB office at Minto road in Dhaka.
He said they first sought permission to hold the rally at Kamalapur stadium. But the police turned down the proposal as the stadium is hosting matches. Police later allowed them to hold the rally at Golapbagh field.
The BNP rally will be held at Golapbagh field tomorrow, Saturday, Zahid Hossain confirmed.
Earlier, BNP submitted a written application to DMP seeking permission to hold a rally at Naya Paltan on 10 December. But the DMP rejected their appeal and gave them permission to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan instead.
However, the BNP didn’t show any interest to hold a rally there citing many reasons.
On Thursday night, when asked why the BNP is not interested in holding the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, Mirza Fakhrul said, "There are many problems in Suhrawardy Udyan. Firstly, there is no more scope to hold a massive rally at Suhrawardy Udyan as many structures have been made inside the place. Besides, the place only has a gate."
"Second, the whole Udyan area is surrounded by walls. So if any chaos takes place in a massive gathering, there is a possibility of many people dying in the stampede," he added.
Earlier, the Detective Branch (DB) of police on Friday shown opposition leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas arrested in a case filed for planning and instigating attack on police in Dhaka’s Naya Paltan on Wednesday.
Wednesday's clash at Naya Paltan claimed the life of a person and injured dozens of leaders and activists of BNP.