The supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ishraque Hossain continued to keep the gates of Nagar Bhaban and other zonal offices of 聽Dhaka South City Corporation locked for the eighth consecutive day on Saturday demanding Ishraque鈥檚 sworn in as the city mayor.
They kept Nagar Bhaban, the headquarters of DSCC, and other zonal offices locked despite the BNP leader postponing the week-long protest giving a 48-hour ultimatum on May 22 afternoon.
The officials and employees had to return to their homes from Nagar Bhaban on Saturday as well due to the protest, which was mostly continued by several unions of employees and workers of the DSCC, the city corporation officials said.
During Saturday鈥檚 protest programme, former bureaucrat Moshiur Rahman connected Ishraque via a phone call, during which Ishraque urged the protesters to carry out their respective duties to avoid city dwellers鈥� sufferings.
He said that although a 48-hour ultimatum was given to the government to implement the High Court order for administering his oath as the city mayor, no activities could be carried out on Friday as it was a public holiday.
鈥榃e will give them one more day and hope that we will see the results of our movement very soon,鈥� he said.
The administrative activities of DSCC remained stalled since May 15, causing suffering to service seekers.
Several hundred supporters of Ishraque began to block major city roads, including those near Nagar Bhaban, Matsya Bhaban, and Kakrail Mosque, on May 21 morning. They later gathered at Kakrail Mosque Road to continue their overnight sit-in protest, which then spread to Matsya Bhaban and continued until the protest was postponed on May 22 afternoon, hours after a High Court ruling clearing his way for taking oath as the city mayor.
Ishraque postponed the protests giving a 48-hour ultimatum to observe the government鈥檚 action regarding the High Court order.
Ishraque and his supporters also demanded the resignation of local government, rural development and cooperatives affairs adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain and information and broadcasting affairs adviser Md Mahfuj Alam for their alleged involvement with the newly formed political party, National Citizen Party, saying that the demand will remain unchanged despite the protest being postponed.聽
The High Court summarily rejected the writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and DSCC resident Mamunur Rashid challenging a lower court鈥檚 March 27 verdict directing the government to issue a gazette within 10 days replacing Awami League leader Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh with Ishraque as DSCC mayor.
The interim government declared the mayoral office vacant and appointed a bureaucrat as administrator on August 19, 2024, two weeks after it assumed power following a mass uprising that ousted the Awami League regime on August 5, 2025.
