'March for Gaza' at Suhrawardy Udyan today

A 'March for Gaza' programme, aimed at protesting against the Israeli atrocities in Gaza, is set to be held at Dhaka's Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday, April 12.

The programme, organised by 'Palestine Solidarity Movement Bangladesh' is scheduled to start at 3:00pm and continue till Maghrib prayers.

Baitul Mukarram National Mosque Khatib Mawlana Abdul Malek will preside over the event.

Along with the common people, political parties including BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, newly formed National Citizens Party (NCP), Qawmi madrasah-based organisation Hefazat Islam, and various social and religious organisations are taking part in the programme.

The organisers hope this will be the largest mass rally in Dhaka streets in solidarity with the persecuted people of Palestine.

UNB adds: The participants will start entering the rally venue from Bangla Motor area through Ramna Gate via Shahbagh, Kakrail intersection through Engineers’ Institute Gate via Matsya Bhaban, Zero Point through TSC Gate via Doyel Chattar, Bakshibazar Intersection through TSC Gate via Shaheed Minar and Nilkhet intersection through TSC Gate via VC Chattar.

A public meeting will be held at the same venue, where top leaders from the country’s political, social and other sectors are expected to share the stage.

A large stage has already been set up and special security arrangements have been put in place at the venue.

To ensure the success of the event, the organisers have issued several instructions.

On Friday, leaders from different political parties visited the meeting venue at Suhrawardy Uddyan to oversee preparations.

The platform, Palestine Solidarity Movement Bangladesh, created a Facebook event titled ‘March for Gaza’.

As of 6:00pm on Friday, around 73,000 people had shown interest in the event and 6,300 confirmed their participation.

Additional security arrangements have been taken centering the rally to ensure law and order situation, while traffic police also took measures including diversion on certain roads to manage traffic flow, said deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Talebur Rahman.