DHAKA: On Saturday, over 100,000 supporters from two of Bangladesh’s major opposition parties gathered in the capital city of Dhaka, demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down to ensure a free and fair election under a neutral government, according to the police.
The Saturday rallies, organized by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the largest party, Jamaat-e-Islami, marked a significant point in their protests, given that a general election was scheduled within the next three months. AFP journalists on the scene reported that these rallies were the largest of the year.
Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power for 15 years and is the daughter of the country’s founding leader, oversaw rapid economic growth that saw Bangladesh surpass neighboring India in GDP per capita. However, inflation has increased, and her government faces allegations of corruption and human rights abuses.
Despite the BNP’s leader, Khaleda Zia, being under effective house arrest due to a conviction on corruption charges, the resurgent opposition has been consistently protesting their demands for months. Supporters poured into Dhaka on Saturday, even crowding onto buses despite checkpoints on the way into the capital and riding on top of packed trains.
At the BNP demonstration in front of the party headquarters, the crowd chanted, “Vote thief, vote thief, Sheikh Hasina vote thief.” Student activist Sekandar Badsha, 24, from Chittagong, stated, “We demand the immediate resignation of the Hasina government, release of our leader Khaleda Zia, and establishing the people’s right to vote.”
To prevent violence, at least 10,000 police officers were deployed, but clashes erupted between officers and hundreds of protestors in the Kakrail neighborhood in front of the city’s largest Catholic church. Police resorted to using tear gas and rubber bullets, resulting in injuries to some officers, according to deputy police commissioner Akterul Islam.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain estimated that at least 100,000 people attended the BNP rally, with up to 25,000 participating in the Jamaat protest near the city’s main commercial district. The Jamaat event had been banned by police, and hundreds of officers in riot gear blocked off a key intersection, but approximately 3,000 protesters managed to break through the cordon, as witnessed by an AFP correspondent on the scene.
The BNP rally led to the arrest of at least 200 BNP supporters near the party headquarters, accused of hurling Molotov cocktails, as per Faruk. He added that at least 600 individuals had been detained over the previous week.
BNP spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan claimed that over one million people attended their rally, which he referred to as their “final call” for Hasina to resign. He also noted that at least 2,900 of their activists and supporters had been detained in the past week.
In the event that Sheikh Hasina does not voluntarily step down, though such a move is widely seen as unlikely, the BNP has threatened to escalate their protests, potentially involving strikes and blockades.
Western governments have expressed concern about the political climate in Bangladesh, where Hasina’s ruling Awami League holds significant power in the legislature, effectively functioning as a rubber stamp. Accusations have been made against her security forces, including the detention of tens of thousands of opposition activists, the killing of hundreds in extrajudicial encounters, and the disappearance of numerous leaders and supporters.
