New Delhi: Thousands of Bangladeshi students are out on the streets again, with a single demand — the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government. As a result, clashes were witnessed Friday and Saturday across the country, in which two people were killed and at least 55 injured.
Clashes were witnessed in Gazipur, Chattogram, Sylhet, Bogura, Jamalpur and Faridpur according to local media reports. A man was killed in Gazipur and nearly 10 other people were injured during clashes between law enforcement and protesters in Sreepur, according to The Daily Star.
The Bangladeshi Prime Minister invited the protesting students to meet with her at her residence — Gono Bhaban in Dhaka — to end the violence and she also ordered the law enforcement to release the students arrested during the July protests.
“Doors to the Gono Bhaban are open. I want to sit with the student protesters and listen to them. I want no conflict,” The Daily Star quoted Hasina as saying.
The organisers of the student protests announced that from Sunday, a non-cooperation movement will be launched protesting against the killings and will continue until Hasina apologises and her cabinet resigns, according to local reports.
The protesters announced a 15-point non-cooperation movement Saturday, which includes the non-payment of taxes and utilities, closure of all government and private offices, closure of all education institutions indefinitely, boycotting all government meetings, luxury shops, hotels and malls, and all serving officers not performing duties outside of their respective cantonments, The Daily Star reported.
The new round of protests come after the country witnessed the outbreak of violence on 15 July between protesters and law enforcement over the reservations for families of veterans from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Protests have been ongoing in the South Asian country since June this year, when the High Court ruled against a 2018 government order scrapping the 30 percent quota for families of veterans in public sector jobs. This ruling, protesters argue, unduly benefits the supporters of the ruling Awami League.
The Awami League, led by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, was pivotal in the independence struggle of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
The violence saw at least 150 people killed, a few thousands injured and at least 10,000 people arrested by the government. It ended when the Bangladesh Supreme Court reduced the controversial quota from 30 percent to 5 percent on 21 July, leading to the end of the protests.
During the July protests, the government had introduced curfews, Internet shutdowns and a shoot-on-sight order. The Army was called in to restore order on the streets. Hasina’s government, in the aftermath of violent protests in July, banned the Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing.
However, since Friday, the students are back on the streets, now protesting for the resignation of the prime minister — a further challenge to Hasina’s fourth consecutive term in power, which began in January this year.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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