DHAKA, Bangladesh?Opposition lawmakers boycotted the first session of Bangladesh’s new parliament Sunday, saying the election that brought Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s four party alliance to power had been rigged.

Legislators from the Awami League of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instead joined about 30,000 demonstrators at a downtown anti-government rally.

“We don’t accept this government, which has come to power by stealing the people’s votes,” Hasina told cheering supporters at Dhaka’s Paltan Maidan, an abandoned soccer stadium.

Hasina said her party will stage nationwide street protests Nov. 5-11 to demand that the results of the Oct. 1 parliamentary polls be overturned.

The Oct. 1 parliamentary elections were Bangladesh’s third since democracy was restored in 1991 after 16 years of military rule.