Demonstrating against the price hike, Awami League (AL) men asked the BNP-Jamaat-led coalition to admit failure to tackle the market situation and step down accordingly.

The AL supporters paraded the streets from Gulsitan to Bahadur Shah Park at old Dhaka. They carried various vegetables like gourd, cucumber, okra, aubergine, kidney beans, arum, potato, onion, papaya and green chilli and chanted slogans against the government.

They also carried placards and banners demanding ouster of the government.

AL and its front organisations' men gathered in front of the AL's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in processions from different parts of the city since 2:30 pm. The main procession, organised by Dhaka city unit AL, began at about 3:30 pm and reached the Bahadur Shah Park after an hour and a half.

Prior to the procession, senior leaders of the party asked the government to check the upward spiral of prices within a month or resign.

The AL leaders said profiteering by the pro-government businessmen has pushed the prices up, which has caused untold sufferings to poor people during Ramadan.

Placing the comparative price lists of previous government of AL and the present government of BNP-Jaamat alliance, they said prices of essentials were stable during the five-year rule of the AL government from 1996 to 2001.

AL Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu addressed the pre-procession rally as the chief guest.

"Prices of essentials have been increasing sharply since the present government assumed power," Amu said adding, "But they seem totally indifferent to the situation that has been worsening day by day."

Presided over by Mohammad Hanif, the pre-procession rally was addressed, among others, by Abdur Razzak, Motia Chowdhury, Mukul Bose and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya.