Responding to the ruling Awami League's request not to organise processions in the capital on December 24, the BNP last night decided to reschedule its programme.

The decision was made at a meeting of the BNP Standing Committee hours after AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader told the opposition party that the AL's national council would be on December 24 and requested that no processions be organised in the capital on that day.

AL leaders and activists will come to the city from across the country for the council, Quader told BNP leaders.

The BNP on December 10 announced that it would hold  processions countrywide on December 24.

Contacted, BNP Standing Committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy said, "We were not aware of the Awami League council. We have decided to reschedule the mass procession following the Awami League's request."

He said the new date for the processions would be decided after discussions with the like-minded political parties.

Earlier in the day, BNP Standing Committee member Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said, "Our target is to make sure that the government falls. We will deal with them politically in the coming days. We will settle the crisis on the streets. We must prepare to oust this autocratic and fascist regime."

The ruling party was defeated on December 10 as people joined the mammoth rally despite repressions by the government, he told a rally in the capital.

"Our rally turned into a sea of mass people despite so many obstacles and arrests. The government tried to foil our Dhaka rally by arresting our leaders and activists. The country's people won on December 10, and the government was forced to accept defeat," he said.

Mosharraf said people joined BNP's recent rallies spontaneously, giving a clear message against the misrule.

The BNP is left with no other alternative but to unseat the government through a strong movement on the streets and pave the way for the unconditional release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and other leaders, he said.

The rally in front of the BNP office in Nayapaltan started around noon with the presence of hundreds of activists.

Addressing the administration officials, Mosharraf said, "You took an oath to protect the peoples' interest. Please stay by the people.

"We don't have anything against you … We wage movements democratically and peacefully to materialise our demands … You people are not employees of any party."

Dhaka City (north) BNP Convener Amanullah Aman chaired the event.

Meanwhile, Oli Ahmed, president of Liberal Democratic Party, said the "brutality" of police at BNP's Nayapaltan office exposed the government's "true colours to the world".

Everybody witnessed the atrocities carried out by the police, he told reporters after visiting the BNP office that was raided by police on December 7.

The opposition parties will have to oust the government through a peaceful movement, he added.

Leaders of the Jatiya Party (Zafar), Kalyan Party, Labour Party, NPP, Jatiya Dal, LPD (Shahadat), NDP, Islamic Party, Muslim League, Jagpa, Samyabadi Dal, Islami Oikya Jote, Democratic League, People's League, NAP-Bhasani and Bangladesh NAP also visited the BNP office yesterday.