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| Bangladesh |
| Banglablockade again |
| 2013-11-30 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The BNP-led 18-party alliance yesterday called another three-day blockade of roads, rail and waterways from 6:00am today, hours after one ended leaving at least 19 people dead and scores injured. The opposition said it was enforcing this blockade to press for immediate cancellation of the polls schedule and to protest implication of big shots in "false cases", especially the one filed yesterday for Thursday's arson attack on a bus in Shahbagh, and torture and repression of its activists. BNP insiders, however, said the main reason was to resist the aspirants of the next parliamentary polls from submitting their nomination papers. The Election Commission has fixed December 2 as the last date for submission of nomination papers. BNP Joint Secretary General Rizvi Ahmed announced the blockade at a presser in the party's Nayapaltan headquarters around 9:30pm. The announcement came just 12 hours before the programme begins, putting thousands of people travelling in harm's way. For many people, the late announcement meant they did not get enough time to rearrange their day's activities. The blockade deals a further blow to the country's education sector, as the government last night once again had to reschedule today's primary and ebtedai terminal exams. The exams will be held on December 6, from 9:30am to 12:00pm. On top of that, like previous hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... s and blockade the opposition alliance did not make clear which sectors would remain out of the blockade's purview. Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... the BNP staged quite a drama in announcing its programme. Since the morning, it held three pressers to finally come up with the blockade. In the first briefing around 11:30am, it had announced countrywide demonstrations for today demanding cancellation of the polls schedule and protesting "ruling party men's involvement in arson and vandalism" during the opposition's 71-hour blockade. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 It's Hartal season! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-11-30 09:27 |