Upon request from police, BNP leaders, activists and supporters ended their hunger strike one and a half hours after they began it in Dhaka demanding release of their chief Khaleda Zia

Hundreds took position near Jatiya Press Club since 11:00am in the pre-announced programme, as part of a series of peaceful demonstration to press home their demand.

Though the strike was scheduled to continue till 4:00pm, they had to end it after police requested them to move away from the spot around 12:30pm, our staff correspondent reports from the spot.

Hundreds of BNP supporters and activists joined in the hunger strike. Photo: Amran Hossain

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is currently in prison, after she was handed a five-year imprisonment for misappropriating a Tk 2.10 crore donation fund of Zia Orphanage Trust.

Previously, following the imprisonment of Khaleda last Thursday, BNP carried out a series of protest programmes on the streets – all of which were nonviolent in nature.