Bangladesh imposes indefinite curfew, internet blackout as new protests spread in Dhaka
Dhaka: Bangladesh's military took to the streets on Sunday to enforce an indefinite nationwide curfew as protesters and authorities clashed amid fresh demonstrations demanding the prime minister's resignation, following weeks of deadly repression.
Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Saturday and Sunday, with student leaders launching a nationwide civil disobedience campaign demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.
The protests follow a violent escalation in student demonstrations in July demanding the abolition of civil service quotas.
Nationwide campus protests were attacked by pro-government groups, sparking clashes with security forces, leading to a week-long communications blackout, a curfew and more than 200 deaths.
After protesters returned to the streets in their largest-ever demonstrations, Bangladesh's home ministry said an indefinite nationwide curfew would be imposed from 6 p.m. on Sunday and internet services would be shut down again.
More than 50 people were killed and dozens injured in fresh clashes as police fired tear gas and hurled stun grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters, according to the country's main Bengali newspaper, Prothom Alo.
The Students Against Discrimination, one of the main groups behind the early protests, called on Monday for “students from all over the country to come to Dhaka”.
“The time has come to sign the final petition of this student civil uprising. Come to Dhaka and be a part of history,” the group's coordinator, Asif Mahmood, said in a statement after the curfew was announced.
“Students will create a new Bangladesh.”
The Supreme Court eventually largely abolished the civil service exam system, but the government's response to last month's protests and the arrests of thousands of people transformed the student-led demonstrations into a mass movement, with more groups joining in in the past few days, including teachers and TV stars.
“The current situation can best be described as a massive popular uprising. It has the support of the entire population, except for a few beneficiaries of the regime,” Salimullah Khan, a political analyst and professor at Bangladesh University of Arts, told Arab News.
“Repressive measures are the only answer for these mass murders and crimes against humanity. The real conclusion is the immediate resignation of the regime. Hesitation will only cost more lives.”
The protests have been a major challenge for Hasina, who won a fourth term in January despite boycotts from her main rivals, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
“BNP firmly supports the students' demands and pledges and will continue to support them,” BNP international secretary Mohamed Naushad Zamir told Arab News.
“Therefore, we must continue our protests on the streets until Sheikh Hasina's illegal regime is ousted and a national government is established according to consensus.”
Hasina's party, the ruling Awami League, said the student-led movement had been “politicized”.
“It is a conspiracy to destroy the country. The current situation has already proven it,” Awami League lawmaker Khalid Mahmoud Choudhury told Arab News.
“Our law enforcement officers are still showing maximum tolerance towards protesters. But they need to understand, that doesn't mean we're weak.”
But efforts to suppress civil disobedience in Bangladesh have included “random and disproportionate use of force by law enforcement agencies” on a scale “unseen before,” said Dr Iftekaruzzaman of Transparency International Bangladesh.
“It’s quite ominous. Unfortunately, we see no way out of this situation and no light at the end of the tunnel because we are continuing to use force to manage the crisis,” he told Arab News.
“The authorities ignored the power of the student movement, while the authorities thought themselves invincible… They failed to realise that the student movement was the most invincible in the history of Bangladesh.”
