​​​​​​​BNP to hold press conference this afternoon

The BNP will hold a press conference on Friday afternoon following the detention of the party's two top leaders and the uncertainty over holding a rally at Nayapaltan.

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the most senior member of the BNP's standing committee, will address the conference at the party chairperson's Gulshan office at 3pm, said Sayrul Kabir Khan, a BNP media cell member.

Also, the other members of the standing committee will be present at the press conference.

To decide their next course of action regarding the detention of two top leaders of the party by detectives, the leaders of the BNP standing committee are now having an online meeting that started at 11:40am.

The BNP in the early hours of Friday said plainclothes police picked up its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas from their homes in separate raids in the capital.

On Thursday night, a BNP delegation had a six-hour meeting with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner where they talked about holding the rally on Saturday either at Kamalapur Stadium or Mirpur Bangla College ground.

Read more: Mirza Fakhrul, Mirza Abbas picked up by detectives: BNP

On Wednesday, a Swechchasebak Dal leader was killed and around 50 others were injured in a clash between police and the BNP activists in front of the party’s Nayapaltan central office ahead of its December 10 rally.

Following the clash, police raided the BNP office and arrested around 300 party leaders and activists from there.