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Thousands of protestors marched through the city streets Thursday in a big showdown against what they said preparing a fresh voter list by the election commission (EC) ignoring the High Court (HC) directives, reports UNB.
The huge procession organised by the Awami League (AL)-led combine of 14 political parties kick-started from Muktangan and ended at the Institution of Engineers after parading the roads through Bijoy Nagar, Kakrail and Matsya Bhaban areas.
"There were severe traffic jams on all routes through downtown Dhaka. Hundreds of riot police were on guard or escorted the marchers to avert any untoward incident," says a firsthand account of the demonstrations.
Addressing a pre-procession rally at Muktangan AL presidium member Razzaq alleged that the BNP-Jamaat coalition has appointed the Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners "illegally" and demanded their resignation.
"No fair elections can be possible under these Election Commissioners as they are working in support of the government. Under this CEC people will not be able to exercise their voting right," Razzaq told the responding crowd. AL general secretary Abdul Jalil alleged that the alliance government is hatching conspiracy to destroy the democratic system in the country. "This is time to resist such conspiracy of the government," he said.
The AL general secretary was critical of the BNP-Jamaat coalition regime for rising fundamentalism and said the government wants to make Bangladesh into a 'province of Pakistan'.
Jalil further demanded resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners, categorically saying that no political parties would take part in any election under these Election Commissioners.
Jalil urged the activists and the supporters of combine to make the Sunday's countrywide hartal a success.
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