More than 100,000 supporters of Bangladesh’s two main opposition parties gathered in Dhaka on Saturday, according to police, to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to make way for a neutral government to oversee the elections. A member of the police was killed and more than a hundred were injured on Saturday.
The spokesperson for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police told AFP that the police officers had been the target of “attacks by the opposition”. The killed police officer was “hit in the head by opposition activists,” he said.
This day marks a new phase in the protests ahead of general elections scheduled before the end of January. Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the country’s first president, has been in power for fifteen years and has seen her country experience rapid economic growth that has allowed it to overtake neighboring India in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, but its government is accused of corruption and human rights violations.
For months, the resurgent opposition has been holding protests to press its demands, although ailing BNP leader Khaleda Zia, a two-time prime minister and Hasina’s old enemy, is under house arrest after being convicted of corruption.
“Vote thief”
His supporters flocked to Dhaka on Saturday, crowding onto buses despite checkpoints on the road leading to the capital, and even boarding crowded trains. “Vote thief, vote thief, Sheikh Hasina vote thief,” chanted the crowd during the BNP demonstration in front of the party headquarters.
“We demand the immediate resignation of the Hasina government, the release of our leader Khaleda Zia and the establishment of real voting rights,” explained Sekandar Badsha, a 24-year-old student activist from Chittagong (South). At least 10,000 police officers had been deployed, authorities said, but they clashed with hundreds of demonstrators in the Kakrail district, in front of the city’s largest Catholic church, and fired tear gas and rubber bullets. .
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain estimated that at least 100,000 people joined the BNP rally, while up to 25,000 people participated in the Jamaat demonstration near the city’s main commercial district . According to BNP spokesperson Zahir Uddin Swapan, more than a million people gathered.
He called the rallies a “final call” for Hasina’s resignation and said at least 2,900 of her activists and supporters had earlier been arrested this week.
Prohibited demonstrations
These demonstrations had been banned and hundreds of police blocked a major intersection, but around 3,000 demonstrators crossed the cordon, noted an AFP correspondent on the spot.
Police arrested at least 200 BNP supporters near the party headquarters on charges of throwing Molotov cocktails, Faruk said, adding that at least 600 people were arrested last week. If Hasina does not resign, the party has threatened to call strikes and blockades.
Security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists and killing or disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters. Several Western governments as well as human rights groups have expressed concern about the political climate in the country.