The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has staged their first simultaneous movement against the government with the participation of like-minded opposition parties.
The pre-announced rally officially started at 2:45 pm to press the BNP's 10-point demands, including the resignation of the ruling government and national elections under a caretaker government.
Earlier the day, BNP men gathered on the streets and obstructed traffic movement from the Nightingale to Doinik Bangla intersections to join the mass procession.
Leaders and activists of other parties including Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Kallyan Party, National Democratic Party, and Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal joined the procession with their respective party banners.
On 10 December, at the party's mass rally in the capital's Golapbag, the BNP announced plans to hold the mass-procession programme on 24 December across the country including Dhaka.
But the date was pushed back to December 30 at the request of the ruling Awami League as its 22nd National Council was scheduled to be held later in the city on the same date.
Eleven parties belonging to the 20-party alliance announced to hold a joint mass procession programme in Dhaka on 30 December expressing solidarity with the 10-point demand of the BNP including the resignation of the government.
The parties made the announcement in a joint statement signed by Jatiya Party (Zafar) Chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider, Kalyan Party Chairman Major General (retired) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, Bangladesh Labor Party Chairman Mostafizur Rahman Iran, Bangladesh National Party Chairman Advocate Syed Ehsanul Huda, NDP Chairman Kari Mohammad Abu Taher, Bangladesh LDP Secretary General Shahadat Hossain Selim, Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Maulana Abdul Rakib, Muslim League Secretary General Sheikh Zulfikar Bulbul Chowdhury, Jamiat Ulema E Islam Secretary General Golam Mohiuddin Ikram, Bangladesh Islamic Party Secretary General Advocate Abul Kashem, Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Syed Nurul Islam.
Besides, Colonel Oli Ahmad's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also expressed solidarity with the 30 December programme of the BNP.
