Bangladesh: Protesters march on capital after bloody day

Anti-government protesters plan to march en masse on Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on Monday, a day after a bloody day in which clashes left at least 77 people dead across the country.

“The time has come for the final demonstration,” Asif Mahmud, one of the leaders of the student movement behind the protests, said on Sunday, calling for a march on the capital.

On Sunday, new clashes between opponents of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, security forces and supporters of the ruling party left at least 77 dead across the country.

This is the heaviest toll in a single day since the start of anti-government protests a month ago in this Muslim country of 170 million people, where students are protesting, against a backdrop of high unemployment among graduates, the favors that those close to the government receive to become civil servants.

The dead included at least 14 police officers, according to police spokesperson Kamrul Ahsan. The rival camps clashed with sticks and knives and the police fired live ammunition. A police station in Enayetpour (north-east) was stormed and 11 police officers killed, according to the police.

Police fire tear gas at protesters in Bogra, Bangladesh, August 4, 2024 © AFP – –

All of Dhaka was transformed “into a battlefield” and a crowd of several thousand demonstrators set cars and motorcycles on fire near a hospital, according to another police source.

At least 283 people have been killed since protests began in July. Local media, citing the authorities, reported a death toll exceeding 90 for Sunday alone.

In Dhaka, repeated gunfire and explosions were heard. heard after dark as demonstrators defied the curfew.

“The shocking violence in Bangladesh must stop,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged on Sunday evening, worried about Monday as “the ruling party's youth movement mobilizes against the protesters.”

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A shop is set on fire during clashes in Dhaka, August 4, 2024 © AFP – Abu SUFIAN JEWEL

Earlier in the day, thousands of Bangladeshis had gathered in a square in Dhaka to demand the resignation of Ms Hasina.

They were responding to the call of the student collective “Students Against Discrimination” which had urged civil disobedience the day before.

For his part, the secretary general of the ruling party, the Awami League, Obaidul Quader, had called on Bangladeshis to gather on Sunday in “all the neighborhoods of Dhaka” and “in all the districts” of the country.

– The army, “on the side of the people” –

These clashes are among the deadliest since Ms Hasina came to power 15 years ago. To restore order, his government has cut off internet access, closed schools and universities, imposed a curfew and deployed the army.

Former military officers have since lent their support to the protesters.

In a highly symbolic stand against the prime minister, a former army chief, General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan, and several other former senior officers called for the withdrawal of troops from the streets, stressing that people were “no longer afraid to sacrifice their lives.”

Anti-government protest in Dhaka, August 4, 2024 © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

In several cases, soldiers and police did not intervene against the protesters, unlike last month.

“Those responsible for pushing the people of this country into such extreme poverty must be brought to justice,” Bhuiyan also said.

On Saturday, the current army chief, General Waker-uz-Zaman, had said in a statement that the military would “always stand with the people.”

– “Live freely” –

The country has many unemployed graduates, and students are demanding the abolition of a system of positive discrimination that reserves a quota of public sector jobs for the families of independence veterans.

Partially abolished in 2018, this system was restored in June by the courts, igniting the powder keg, before a new reversal at the end of July by the Supreme Court.

The social crisis turned into a political crisis from July 16, when the repression caused its first deaths, with protesters demanding the resignation of Ms. Hasina.

“It's not just about job quotas anymore,” Sakhawat, a young protester we met in Dhaka, where she was filming, told AFP. a graffiti on a wall calling Mrs Hasina a “killer”.

“We want future generations to be able to live freely,” she says.

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