Police in Bangladesh fired tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets on Saturday afternoon to break up a huge gathering of opposition supporters as political tensions sharply escalated.
The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to allow free and fair elections under a neutral government. The clashes in central Dhaka underscore deep-rooted divisions in the country’s political landscape.
Police estimated that more than 125,000 supporters of two prominent opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, gathered to voice their demands. A VOA reporter near the rally saw hundreds of people running to safety as sound grenades exploded, blanketing the streets in clouds of smoke. Violence spread around the protest site as police fired tear gas and rubber shotgun shells while protesters threw stones and bricks in retaliation.
Bangladesh police spokesman AKM Kamrul Ahsan told VOA that at least one member of the police force was killed and dozens more injured in the clashes.
“The police officer who was hit in the head died after being taken to the hospital,” he said.
Several people injured in the clashes were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country’s largest, with injuries from rubber bullets.
People carry an injured man during a clash between Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters and police in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 28, 2023.
“We call for calm”
The United States condemned the political violence that took place in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon.
“We call on all sides for calm and restraint and will review any violent incidents for possible visa restrictions,” Donald Lu, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
In May, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the implementation of a new U.S. policy allowing the restriction of visas to Bangladeshi people found to be undermining the country’s democratic electoral process.
The leading opposition party BNP, together with its former ally, the country’s largest Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, organized the “big rallies” in the capital with a single aim: to demand the resignation of the prime minister’s government. They believe she should leave office so that an impartial caretaker government can administer elections scheduled for January.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters gather in Naya Paltan area for a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 28, 2023.
In the early afternoon, the BNP’s rally began in Naya Paltan district of Dhaka in front of the party’s headquarters, attended by thousands of party leaders and activists and affiliated organizations.
BNP general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir – a senior party figure who assumed a prominent role following the jailing of party leader and former prime minister Khaleda Zia on corruption charges – called on the gathered crowd to maintain a peaceful and non-confrontational approach.
As BNP leaders addressed the gathering, protests erupted, leading to confrontations with police in close proximity. The use of tear gas and sound grenades by police sparked a chaotic dispersal. The omnipresent tear gas made it impossible for the central opposition leaders to remain on stage.
Senior BNP leader and party joint general secretary Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal claimed police and ruling party supporters attacked their rally.
“The party leadership remained on stage until the last moment and pushed for a peaceful assembly! However, we had to leave the stage when the police and ruling party supporters attacked our gathering. We had to defend ourselves,” Alal told VOA.
“Hundreds of BNP activists were injured in the brutal attacks by police and Awami League supporters. They had been planning for days that the attacks would thwart our rally,” he added.
Police try to disperse protesters during a clash with Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 28, 2023.
In response to the violence, the BNP called for a nationwide strike on Sunday.
The opposition has been protesting for months, even though BNP leader Khaleda Zia has been under house arrest since 2020 after being convicted on corruption charges. Their supporters continued to flock to Dhaka for the rally, braving checkpoints on the streets into the capital and crowded trains.
During the demonstration in front of the BNP headquarters, protesters shouted slogans such as “Election thief, election thief, Sheikh Hasina election thief”. In addition to the immediate resignation of the Hasina government, opposition activists demanded the release of Khaleda Zia and the introduction of popular suffrage.
“The fascist Awami League government has run out of time, it is time for Sheikh Hasina to resign, else the common people will throw them from power. People want to vote freely and they want to vote for the BNP,” said Rahmat , a BNP supporter from northern Bangladesh’s Naogaon district who only gave his first name to VOA.
Disturbances at the meeting
The BNP accused police and security forces of hindering the gathering of BNP supporters by using tactics such as arrests, raids and detentions. Several local media outlets have reported that law enforcement agencies have set up checkpoints at entry points into Dhaka, apparently with the intention of discouraging people from attending the rally.
“As far as I know, more than 2,000 BNP supporters have been arrested or detained in the last two days alone. The actual number could be much higher as we are still trying to gather more information,” BNP chief Alal said.
According to local media reports, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has issued an order to telecom operators directing them to either shut down or restrict internet services in the vicinity of the rally from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The VOA reporter who covered the event was unable to access the internet at the scene. However, the BTRC has refused to issue such orders, despite local media claims.
The constitution of Bangladesh was amended in 1996 with the introduction of an electoral caretaker system of government tasked with overseeing national elections. But under Hasina’s government, the system was abolished in 2011 after a Supreme Court ruling ruled that the interim government system contradicted the constitution.
In 2014, the BNP decided to boycott the election, while the 2018 election results led to a row over allegations of vote fraud by the ruling party, which emerged victorious with a clear majority.