Bangladesh: Call for civil disobedience until PM resigns

The leader of the protests &eacute students who are shaking Bangladesh called on Saturday for a large movement of civil disobedience until the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, more than a month after the resignation The beginning of the protests that left more than 200 dead.

“Sheikh Hasina should not only resign, but also face trial for murder, looting and corruption,” Nahid Islam, leader of the Students Against Discrimination coalition, told thousands of people in central Dhaka.

Protesters gathered at the call of a Bangladeshi student organization call for civil disobedience after clashes that left more than 200 dead in July, on August 3, 2024 in Dhaka © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

The coalition, which first organized protests against civil service employment quotas last month, earlier in the day rejected the prime minister's offer to open talks and urged Bangladeshis to take part in civil disobedience starting Sunday.

“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by civil servants and stopping remittances abroad through banks,” Asif Mahmud, a member of the organization, told AFP Workers in garment factories, which are vital to the country's economy, are also being asked to go on strike.

Protesters gathered at the call of a Bangladeshi student organization call for civil disobedience after clashes that left more than 200 dead in July, August 3, 2024 in Dhaka © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

“Don't stay at home. Join the nearest protest,” Asif Mahmud, a member of the student organization, wrote on Facebook.

At one of the many protests held in Dhaka on Saturday, Nijhum Yasmin, 20, called for the prime minister's resignation.

She “must go because we don't need this authoritarian government,” he said. “Have we liberated the country to see our brothers and sisters slaughtered by this regime?”.

At least 206 people have been killed since the start of the protests in July, most of them victims of gunfire by the security forces, according to an AFP report based on police and hospital data.

– Liberation War –

The campaign of disobedience deliberately evokes that waged during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.

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Protesters gathered at the call of a Bangladeshi student organization call for civil disobedience after clashes that left more than 200 dead in July, August 3, 2024 in Dhaka © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

Ms Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's independence leader, was behind the movement, which Bangladeshis remember as a proud battle against tyranny.

In this Muslim country of 170 million people with many unemployed graduates, students are demanding the abolition of a system of positive discrimination, accused of favoring the hiring of those close to the government in the administration.

Partially abolished in 2018, this system was restored in June by court order, igniting the powder keg, before a new reversal at the end of July by the Supreme Court, after a month of demonstrations and violence.

Protesters gathered at the call of a Bangladeshi student organization call for civil disobedience after clashes that left more than 200 dead in July, August 3, 2024 in Dhaka © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

The social crisis, largely peaceful at first, turned into a political crisis from July 16, when the repression caused its first deaths. The demonstrators then demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76 years old, in power since 2009 and re-elected in January after a vote without real opposition.

These clashes matter among the deadliest since Ms. Hasina came to power. To restore order, his government deployed the army, cut off internet access and imposed a curfew.

Demonstrators gathered at the call of a Bangladeshi student organization launch a call for civil disobedience after the clashes which left more than 200 dead in July, August 3, 2024 in Dhaka © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

His government is accused by human rights groups of using state institutions to consolidate its grip on power and stamp out dissent, including through extrajudicial executions of opposition activists.

Authorities accused opposition parties of hijacking protests to provoke unrest.

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