Dictator government will fall this month, just like dictator Ershad did: Rizvi

The current "dictator" government will fall this month, just like dictator Ershad, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

"On 6 December 1990, dictator Ershad was forced to resign in the face of public outrage. This government will not be able to survive as well. They will fall in the month of victory [December]," said the opposition leader following a march and picketing organised by Rajshahi District Jubo Dal and District Chhatra Dal on the first day of the 10th phase of blockade called by BNP.

He said the Awami League is once again moving forward with plans to curtail the voting rights of the people.

"However, all the democratic parties of the country, including the BNP, will join the final movement to restore the democracy of the people. People are uniting to save the country from one-party rule," he added.

Today at 7am, the rally, led by Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, started from the front of Terokhadia stadium in Rajshahi city and ended at Dabtala intersection of City Hut Road.

On 28 October, both the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami called rallies in the capital which were marred by violence.

The rallies – called to push home both the parties' demands of ensuring a polls' time government – took a violent turn soon after it began.

Clashes with AL partymen and police took place in different areas of the capital.

Midway into BNP's rally, party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir suspended the programme and declared a hartal the next day, alleging a police crackdown at their event.

Fakhrul was arrested the next day over the attacks on police the day earlier, alongside hundreds of BNP activists.

The arrest was met by BNP's announcement of a three-day blockade, starting 31 October.

The next day, Jamaat-e-Islami also announced an identical blockage programme.

Since then BNP-Jamaat and a few other political parties have been calling for blockades and hartals intermittently.