Shawdesh desk:

The police on Thursday barred a procession of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in front of Notre Dame College in Arambagh area of the capital.

The Dhaka district unit of BNP brought out the procession from near China Tower in Paltan area in a bid to observe their pre-scheduled sit-in programme in front of the power office housed in WAPDA Building at Matijheel to protest against frequent power cuts during the ongoing unbearable hot weather and ‘corruption in power sector’.

As the procession reached in front of Notre Dame College at about 12:45pm, police barred the procession by putting barricade there.

The BNP leaders and activists then stopped the procession there and held a short rally there.

The party senior joint-secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and district BNP president Khandaker Abu Ashfaq among the leaders addressed there.

They chanted slogans against the government, frequent power cuts and corruption in power sector.

After the short rally, a team led by Ruhul Kabir Rizvi went to the power office and submitted a memorandum to Power Development Board deputy director Mamtaz Parvin, said BNP leaders.

On June 6, the BNP announced sit-ins in front of all district electricity offices across the country in protest against ‘unbearable load-shedding and widespread corruption in the power sector’.