Thousands of AL leaders and workers from the city and its peripheries gathered in front of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital. They marched the city streets with colourful banners, festoons and placards, chanting slogans with the rhythm of drumbeats.

The AL was founded on June 23, 1949 with a view to establishing a nation free of communalism and economic and political disparity.

But the dream has been shattered with the rise of anti-liberation forces in the government, the leaders said.

"The people are now living in utter misery, which needs an immediate change, and we're determined to bring the change by ousting the government," AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil told a rally yesterday.

Recalling the historical March 7 speech by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971, he said, "We have to launch a new movement to build the country as dreamt by the father of the nation."

AL presidium member Amir Hossain Amu said a conspiracy against the AL began with the assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975. The plot is still continuing and the killings of the AL leaders are not stray incidents, he added.

He expressed the hope they will be successful to build a democratic and non-communal nation through implementing the AL's development programmes.

"It's the Awami League that led the Liberation War, which witnessed a loss of three million lives. But the sacrifice of the martyrs is yet to reap its result," AL lawmaker Abdur Razzak, MP told the rally.

AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed said the victory in the Liberation War has become vulnerable today, as the law and order has seriously deteriorated with the government violating human rights.

"Let the pledge of the 56th founding anniversary of the Awami League be revival of democracy and human rights by ousting the autocratic and corrupt government," he added.