As the main opposition BNP and its ally Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have called a two-day blockade starting today (November 5), law enforcement agencies have been placed on high alert as part of the government's measures to ensure public safety and maintain law and order during the blockade.
They are observing the blockade programme to press home their one-point demand for resignation of the Awami League government.
Meanwhile, unidentified people set fire to four minibuses at different places in Gulistan, Elephant Road, New Market and Saidabad on Saturday night ahead of the blockade, said officials of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
Sources said keeping the public transportation system running smoothly is one of the police's main objectives, which is why bus, train, and railway stations have extra security measures in place.
Highway police will periodically coordinate with district police to ensure highway security and the smooth movement of vehicles.
To prevent buses from being torched, police were given special instructions to identify and arrest arsonists disguised as passengers.
Police will also deploy a sufficient number of checkpoints and patrol teams at strategic locations in the capital, while security at key point installations (KPIs) has already been beefed up.
The BNP called the two-day blockade on Thursday after the end of the three-day blockade and a dawn-to-dusk hartal on October 29, protesting at the police and ruling party attack on the BNP's grand rally on October 28.
Jamaat and other political parties and alliances, including Ganatantra Mancha, followed BNP to announce that they would also hold the blockade programme simultaneously.
The hartal and blockade programmes were marked by violence that left several people killed and many others injured.
BNP at the latest alleged that party activist Biplob Hasan Bipul of Munshiganj died on Friday at a hospital where he was undergoing treatment after being injured in a police teargas shell and sound grenade on October 28.
BDST: 0803 HRS, NOV 05, 2023
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