At least four vehicles were set ablaze while traffic flow was almost normal in the capital city on Wednesday, the first day of the 10th phase 48-hour countrywide blockade called by the BNP and its like-minded political parties.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), its affiliated organisations and other anti-government platforms, brought out processions to press home their one-point demand- the resignation of the Awami League government.
Like the earlier spells of blockade, vehicles including private cars plied the city streets almost as usual.
The oppositions have observed nine phases of blockade since November following attack on its grand rally in the city's Purana Paltan area on October 28.
BNP and its different wings, including Jubo Dol and Chaatra Dal, brought out processions in the city's Banani, Kamalapur, New Market, Malibagh and Gulshan areas.
The processionists chanted slogans seeking the removal of the current government and holding the next national election under a non-partisan caretaker administration.
They also protested the mass arrest of the leaders and activists of BNP and other political parties and sought immediate release of those detained in prisons.
Sources said miscreants set a bus ablaze in the city's Khilgaon in the morning and torched three other buses in Maniknagar area in the evening. The fire service and civil defence in a statement said they received information that a staff bus of Agrani Bank was set on fire at Taltala in Khilgaon.
It also said miscreants burnt three buses of Ekushey Express of which two were gutted completely and the rest one partially.
Two fire fighting units from Khilgaon Fire Station and another unit from Siddik Bazar Fire Station reached the spot under police protection and managed to extinguish the blaze at 5:26 pm.
Meanwhile, urging the countrymen to observe the blockade, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the ruling party Awami League has now turned into a party that has to recruit members from other parties.
"Awami League has recruited members through bribery, cheating and temptation," he said.
The BNP leader made the remarks while addressing a virtual press conference on Wednesday evening.
Terming the way the Awami League is taking preparations for the upcoming national election 'farcical', he said, "The government can now declare who are going be elected; as all are set."
"Those who you are participating in this plotted election, if you get minimum sense of patriotism, morals, don't belittle yourself to countrymen by choosing farce," he said.
He also said, "There is no scope for the country's economy to deteriorate as it has already fallen to the nadir."
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