DHAKA: In one of the bloodiest days since the protests started, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina engaged in gunfire with pro-government demonstrators on Sunday.
Protests over civil service job quotas that started last month have grown into some of the most violent under Hasina’s 15-year tenure, and demands for the 76-year-old to resign have expanded.
With competing groups fighting with sticks and knives and security forces using rifles, at least 91 people—including 14 police officers—were murdered on Sunday alone, bringing the total number of persons killed since protests started in July to at least 261.
Protesters, according to the police, attacked their personnel, including storming an Enayetpur station.
The terrorists killed eleven police officers at the police station, according to deputy inspector general Bijoy Basak.
Reporters from AFP reported hearing gunfire after dark on Sunday, as demonstrators disobeyed a national curfew.
There were strong restrictions on mobile internet.
“The last protest”
In contrast to the previous month’s protests, which frequently resulted in fatal crackdowns, military and police failed to break up the demonstrations in multiple instances.
Soldiers watched as protesters in the nation’s capital, Dhaka, waved the Bangladeshi flag atop an armored vehicle in front of a densely populated, supportive audience.
One of the key organizers of the civil disobedience movement, Asif Mahmud, encouraged followers to march across Dhaka on Monday. “Get ready to liberate Bangladesh with bamboo sticks,” he posted on Facebook on Sunday. He declared, “The last protest is now necessary.”
Presented to the courts
On Sunday, large groups of demonstrators crowded into Shahbagh Square in the heart of Dhaka, where there were street fights at several locations.
According to police inspector Al Helal, “there were clashes between students and the ruling party men.” He also mentioned that two young men had died in the Munshiganj area of Dhaka.
“A gunshot wound injured one of the deceased, and a head wound injured another.”
“The entire city has turned into a battleground,” remarked a second police officer who wished to remain anonymous.
According to police, demonstrators set a ruling party office on fire in the city of Kishioreganj, resulting in the deaths of two persons.
A number of former military leaders have joined the student movement, and in a show of support, former army chief Gen. Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan colored his Facebook profile picture red.
Along with other former police officers, Bhuiyan told reporters on Sunday, “We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately” and denounced “egregious killings, torture, disappearances, and mass arrests.”
He declared, “Those who are accountable for driving this nation’s citizens into such a severe state of suffering will have to face justice.”
ceased to concern work quotas
At the military headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday, Waker-uz-Zaman, the current commander of army, stated to officers that the “Bangladesh Army is the symbol of trust of the people.”
In a statement, he stated, “It always stood by the people and will do so for the sake of people and in any need of the state,” however it was not made clear whether the army supported the protesters.
People from all social classes in Bangladesh have shown interest in the demonstrations. Rap songs pleading for help have gone viral on social media.
A young woman protester who went by Sakhawat only revealed her first name and referred to Hasina as a “killer” declared, “It is no longer about job quotas.”
47 manufacturers in the vitally important apparel industry declared their “solidarity” with the demonstrators.
The ruling Awami League’s general secretary, Obaidul Quader, has urged party members to assemble “in every district” across the country to demonstrate their support for the administration.
The reinstatement of the quota system, which allocated over half of all government positions to specific groups, sparked the upheaval in July. Since then, the nation’s highest court has reduced it.
