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Agence France-Presse

Student leaders rallied Bangladeshis on Saturday for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government weathered worsening backlash over a deadly police crackdown on protesters.
Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem last month that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.
Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds hit the streets in huge numbers after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation, heeding a call by student leaders to press the government for more concessions.
Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, urged their compatriots to launch an all-out non-cooperation movement from Sunday.
“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by government workers, and a halt to overseas remittance payments through banks,” the group’s Asif Mahmud told reporters.
Students are demanding a public apology from Hasina for last month’s violence and the dismissal of several of her ministers.

They have also insisted that the government reopens schools and universities around the country, all of which were closed at the height of the unrest.
Crowds on the street have gone further, insisting Hasina leave office altogether.
“She must go because we don’t need this authoritarian government,” Nijhum Yasmin, 20, told reporters from one of many protests staged around the capital Dhaka on Saturday. “Did we liberate the country to see our brothers and sisters shot dead by this regime?”
The non-cooperation strategy deliberately evokes a historical civil disobedience campaign during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
That earlier movement was spearheaded by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and is remembered by Bangladeshis as a part of a proud battle against tyranny.
“Now the tables have turned,” said Illinois State University politics professor Ali Riaz.
“The regime’s foundation has been shaken, the aura of invincibility has disappeared,” he added. “The question is whether Hasina is ready to look for an exit or fight to the last.”
The premier had on Saturday offered “unconditional dialogue” with the students to address their demands, according to her press secretary, Nayeemul Islam Khan.
“She is ready to sit with them. She does not want conflict any more,” he added.
Mahmud told reporters that students had rejected the overture.

Hasina, 76, 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 the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme – since scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court – that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute employment crisis.
The protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.
Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops, and shut down the nation’s mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.
Foreign governments condemned the crackdown, with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week calling for an international probe into the “excessive and lethal force against protesters”.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces had operated with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.
At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the United Nations said on Friday.


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Bangladesh

Bangladesh students call for nationwide civil disobedience, halt to remittances

A protester waves the Bangladeshi flag during a protest in Dhaka on Saturday. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government weathered worsening backlash following a deadly police crackdown on protesters. Photo: AFP

Students carry portraits of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a protest in Dhaka following police killings of student protesters over Hasina’s government’s job quota scandal. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses the media after her visit at a hospital to check on the wounded after recent clashes between students and police during the anti-quota protests. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh student protests become ‘people’s uprising’ after brutal government crackdown

Protestors rally to demand justice for victims arrested and killed in the recent countrywide violence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 1. Photo: AFP

Dhaka University teachers march to demand justice for victims arrested and killed in the recent countrywide violence near the university in the capital on August 1. Photo: AFP

Paramilitary soldiers stand guard in front of the Dhaka High Court as students and lawyers stage a protest rally to demand justice for the victims killed in the recent countrywide deadly clashes on July 31. Photo: AP 

Bangladesh student protests turn deadly as demonstrators bring nation to standstill

Police detains a man who was not leaving the University of Dhaka premises, a day after the clash between Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 17, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Anti-quota supporters clash with police and Awami League supporters at the Rampura area in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 18. Photo: Reuters

Students protesting against quotas in government jobs offer prayers over symbolic coffins of victims, a day after they died in a clash with police personnel, during an absentee funeral prayer ceremony at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

Students wearing headbands with Bangladesh’s national flag shout slogans during a protest at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh faces demand for justice over ‘unlawful killings’ during student protests

Protesters clash with Border Guard Bangladesh and the police outside the state-owned Bangladesh Television as violence erupts across the country after anti-quota protests by students, in Dhaka. Photo: Reuters

A woman cries after receiving the remains of her son, who was shot during clashes between the police and anti-job quota protesters, at a morgue in Dhaka on July 22. Photo: AP

Members of Bangladesh Army patrol on the second day of curfew on July 21 in Dhaka as violence erupted in parts of the country after student protests against government job quotas. Photo: Reuters

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reviews an honour guard at the Government House in Bangkok, during her visit to Thailand in April. Photo: Reuters

Members of the leftist students organisations march in a protest rally in Kolkata, India, on July 25 in solidarity with protesting students in Bangladesh. Photo: AP

Bangladesh protest leader fears for his life, taken into custody by government

Demonstrations are ongoing in Bangladesh following indiscriminate killings and mass arrests during protests over civil job quotas. Photo: AFP

Nahid Islam, a leader of main protest organiser Students Against Discrimination, speaks during an interview in Dhaka on July 22. Islam has previously accused the police of torture. Photo: AFP

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses the media after her visit to a hospital on Saturday to check on the wounded after recent clashes between students and police. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh accepts court ruling to cut state job quotas after unrest, eases curfew

Bangladeshi soldiers stand guard along a street during a curfew amid the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on Monday. Photo: AFP

Residents queue to receive credit on their prepaid electric bills after an internet blackout during the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Photo: dpa

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Students demand a public apology from Prime Minister Hasina, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and her resignation


Prime Minister Hasina’s government weathered worsening backlash over a deadly police crackdown on protesters over job quota scandal.


Protests around the world

Bangladesh students call for nationwide civil disobedience, halt to remittances

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Students demand a public apology from Prime Minister Hasina, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and her resignation

Students demand a public apology from Prime Minister Hasina, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and her resignation