Bangladesh: At least 32 killed as protesters clash with police, ruling party supporters

Violent clashes between protestors and the ruling Awami League supporters in Bangladesh on Sunday left 32 people dead and hundreds injured on the first day of a non-cooperation movement announced by the students' movement demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.

The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government's resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists.

“So far, 32 people have been killed in clashes in 13 districts across Bangladesh,” Prothom Alo newspaper reported. Giving details, the paper said at least five people were killed in Feni, four in Sirajganj, three in Munshiganj, three in Bogura, three in Magura, three in Bhola, three in Rangpur, two in Pabna, two in Sylhet, one in Comilla, one in Joypurhat, one in Dhaka and one in Barisal.

The home ministry has decided to impose an indefinite countrywide curfew from 6.00 pm on Sunday. A government agency has ordered the shutdown of Meta platforms Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. The mobile operators were ordered to shut down 4G mobile internet, the paper added.

The platform Students Against Discrimination has called for an all-out non-cooperation movement from today with the one-point demand of the government’s resignation.

Meanwhile, PM Hasina said those engaging in sabotage across Bangladesh in the name of protest are not students but terrorists and asked people to suppress them with a firm hand. Hasina called a meeting of the National Committee on Security Affairs at Ganabhaban, the paper reported, citing sources from the prime minister's office (PMO).

Those engaging in sabotage in the name of protest across the country are not students but terrorists, she said. "I appeal to the countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a firm hand,” she said.

The meeting was attended by the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, police, RAB, BGB, and other top security officers. The meeting came as renewed violence spread to several parts of the country.

Most of the shops and malls in Dhaka were closed amid the protest. Hundreds of students and professionals had gathered at Dhaka’s Shahbagh, blocking traffic on all sides.

The protesters under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement chanted slogans calling for Hasina’s resignation and justice for those killed in the recent violence surrounding the quota reform protests, Bdnews24 news portal reported.

Protesters also gathered at the Science Lab intersection of the capital on the first day of the non-cooperation movement. They chanted anti-government slogans.

According to the Daily Star, several vehicles at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) were torched on Sunday by unidentified people. People carrying sticks were seen vandalising private cars, ambulances, motorcycles, and buses on the hospital premises, triggering fear among the patients, their attendants, doctors and staff, the paper said.

Protesters have dismissed Hasina’s invitation for dialogue aimed at quelling escalating violence and consolidated their demands into a unified call for the government’s resignation.

Protest coordinators had called on students from schools, colleges, universities, private universities, and madrasas, as well as workers, professionals, political activists and other public members to participate in the protests.

Nahid Islam, a coordinator of the anti-government protests, announced said they will stage a demonstration and mass sit-in on Monday to press home their one-point demand. On Monday, they will unveil Martyrs' Memorial plaques across the country in memory of people killed recently centring the quota reform movement, he said in a statement.

On Saturday, while a large students’ rally in Dhaka to announce their demand for a single-point agenda proceeded without incident, clashes erupted in various other parts of the country. A trader was killed and at least 20 others were injured in these incidents.

There have been reports of vandalism and arson attacks on police vehicles and government buildings in multiple locations.

In Chattogram, the residences of education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Chattogram city corporation mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, as well as the office of Awami League MP Md Mohiuddin Bachchu, were attacked.

In apparent retaliation, the homes of several opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders, including standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, were targeted.

The BNP and its allies, along with numerous political, professional, and cultural groups have thrown their support behind the student-led movement that had been launched to demand reforms to quotas reserved for government jobs.

Hasina offered to sit for talks on Saturday with the coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. However, the movement's coordinators rejected the proposal.

The fresh round of clashes erupted days after over 200 people were killed in violent clashes between the police and mostly student protesters demanding an end to the controversial quota system that reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's War of Independence in 1971.