The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has given permission to both the Awami League and the BNP to hold their rallies scheduled for Friday at their preferred locations subject to 23 conditions.

BNP has been permitted to hold the rally outside their party office in the capital's Nayapaltan area and the Awami League has been permitted to hold it at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Khandoker Golam Faruq told the media on Thursday (27 July).

The development came a day after both the parties were denied permission by the DMP to hold the rallies at their desired venues.

However, the law enforcement agency has imposed a condition that BNP members cannot gather outside the peripheries of the Rajarbagh Police Hospital intersection to Nightingale, and the Awami League has to restrict their gathering within Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium to zero point.

Among other conditions include:

# Limiting the rally within the venue

# Deploying adequate volunteers

# Installing CCTV cameras and metal detectors for checking participants while holding the rally

# No loudspeakers and projectors can be set up outside the venues

# No gathering on roads adjacent to the venue

# Any speech or display of any content or caricature that may hurt religious sentiment cannot be given or published

# Participants cannot carry objects like sticks and rods

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced a grand rally in Dhaka on 27 July, following BNP's youth rally at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan on 22 July.

Following the BNP announcement, three Awami League affiliated bodies – Chhatra League, Jubo League, and Swechchhasebak League — announced their plan to hold a rally at the south gate of Baitul Mukarram on the same day.

However, on Wednesday, BNP decided to defer their rally to Friday, and the Awami League bodies also made the same deferment announcement.

Meanwhile, the DMP Commissioner Khandoker Golam Faruq informed the media that he has no idea about any arrest of BNP leaders and activists during raids at various residential hotels in the capital.

He also assured that appropriate actions will be taken if any involvement of DMP officials in such arrests is found.

However, he did acknowledge that individuals accused in various cases are being arrested as part of their routine drives.

In the meantime, sources within the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Crime Division informed The Business Standard that a total of 411 persons were arrested in the last 24 hours, with 59 of them being accused in narcotics cases.