Bangladeshi Security Forces Patrol Capital Amid Deadly Protests

Bangladeshi security forces patrolled the capital on Monday as protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation vowed to take to Dhaka’s streets again following the deadliest day of unrest since demonstrations erupted last month.

Analysts fear violence could surpass that seen on Sunday, when hundreds of thousands of protesters and government supporters clashed with sticks and knives, and security forces opened fire with rifles.

Soldiers and police in Dhaka barricaded routes to Hasina’s office with barbed wire to enforce a curfew that took effect Sunday evening, according to AFP reporters. Mobile internet was tightly restricted nationwide, offices were closed, and the country’s more than 3,500 economically vital garment factories were shut.

Rallies that began last month against civil service job quotas have escalated into some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year rule, evolving into broader calls for the 76-year-old to step down.

“We are calling on students and the public all over the country to march towards Dhaka,” said Asif Mahmud, one of the key leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign. “The time has come for the final protest,” he added.

‘Shocking Violence’

At least 94 people died on Sunday, including 14 police officers, many of whom were killed when protesters stormed a station in the northeastern town of Enayetpur. The day’s violence brought the total number of people killed since protests began in early July to at least 300, according to an AFP tally based on reports from police, government officials, and hospital doctors.

“The shocking violence in Bangladesh must stop,” United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

Ali Riaz, an Illinois State University politics professor and expert on Bangladesh, warned that Hasina was “digging her heels in,” adding he was “deeply concerned” about the crisis. “This is an unprecedented popular uprising by all measures,” Riaz said. “Also, the ferocity of the state actors and regime loyalists is unmatched in history.”

Protesters in Dhaka were seen climbing a statue of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and smashing it with hammers, according to videos on social media verified by AFP.

‘Raw Anger’

In several instances, soldiers and police did not intervene to stem the protests on Sunday, unlike during the past month of rallies that repeatedly ended in deadly crackdowns. Demonstrators in Dhaka, surrounded by a tightly packed and cheering crowd, waved a Bangladeshi flag on top of an armored car as soldiers watched, according to videos verified by AFP.

“Let’s be clear: The walls are closing in on Hasina: She’s rapidly losing support and legitimacy,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told AFP. “The protests have taken on immense momentum, fueled by raw anger but also by the confidence that comes with knowing that so much of the nation is behind them.”

In a hugely symbolic rebuke of Hasina, a respected former army chief demanded the government “immediately” withdraw troops and allow protests. “Those who are responsible for pushing people of this country to a state of such extreme misery will have to be brought to justice,” ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan told reporters Sunday, in a joint statement alongside other senior former officers.

‘By the People’

Current army chief Waker-uz-Zaman told officers on Saturday that the military “always stood by the people,” according to an official statement, which gave no further details and did not explicitly state whether the army backed the protests.

The anti-government movement has attracted people from across society in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people, including film stars, musicians, and singers. Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists. Demonstrations began over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups. The protests have continued despite the scheme having been scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court.