Activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party run from tear gas shell fired by police during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on October 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

The police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at huge crowds of Bangladesh Opposition supporters on Saturday to break up a giant protest against the Prime Minister, with one officer killed and scores of people injured in several hours of violent clashes in central Dhaka.

More than 1,00,000 supporters of two major Bangladesh Opposition parties rallied to demand Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down to allow a free and fair vote under a neutral government.

Live footage on the verified Facebook page of the main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) showed thousands of people running for safety as sound grenades went off one after another and plumes of black smoke rose from the roads.

AFP correspondents said the violence spread in roads and alleys in the centre of the capital as police fired tear gas and rubber shotgun rounds, while the protesters threw stones and bricks.

One officer was killed and more than 100 injured, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain, telling AFP: “The constable was hacked in the head by opposition activists.”

The protests by the BNP and the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, were the biggest so far this year, AFP journalists on site said, and marked a new phase in their protests with a general election due within three months.

Sheikh Hasina — daughter of the country’s founding leader — has been in power for 15 years and has overseen rapid economic growth with Bangladesh overtaking neighbouring India in GDP per capita, but inflation has risen and her government is accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

At least 20 people were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the country’s largest, with wounds from rubber bullets, police inspector Bacchu Mia told AFP.

The clashes began in front of the city’s largest Catholic church when rowdy opposition supporters fought with sticks and allegedly torched a bus and a police post.

The BNP has called a nationwide strike on Sunday to protest the violence.

“Police and armed ruling party cadres attacked our peaceful rally,” party spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan told AFP.

The resurgent Opposition has been mounting protests to press their demands for months, despite the BNP’s ailing leader Khaleda Zia, a two-time premier and old foe of Hasina’s, being effectively under house arrest after a conviction on corruption charges.

Hundreds of Opposition activists were detained in the days running up to the rally, officials confirmed, but her supporters poured into Dhaka on Saturday, crammed into buses despite checkpoints on roads into the capital, and even riding on top of packed trains.

“Vote thief, vote thief, Sheikh Hasina vote thief,” chanted the crowd at a demonstration in front of the BNP headquarters.

Student activist Sekandar Badsha, 24, from Chittagong, said: “We demand the immediate resignation of the Hasina government, release of our leader Khaleda Zia and establishing the people’s right to vote.”

At least 10,000 police had been deployed, officials said.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Hossain said that at least 100,000 people had joined the BNP rally, while up to 25,000 were at the Jamaat protest near the city’s main commercial district — which had been banned by police.

BNP spokesman Swapan told AFP that there were more than one million people at its rally, which he described as its “final call” for Hasina to resign.

If she does not step down voluntarily — widely seen as inconceivable — the party has threatened to call more aggressive protests such as strikes and blockades.

Western governments have expressed concern over the political climate in Bangladesh, where Hasina’s ruling Awami League dominates the legislature and runs it virtually as a rubber stamp.

Her security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds in extrajudicial encounters and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.

Activists and onlookers gather outside the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headquarters in Dhaka on October 27, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hundreds of Bangladeshi opposition activists have been arrested, police and party officials said Friday, ahead of a major rally where campaigners hope more than a million people will take to the streets of Dhaka.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its leftist allies, along with several Islamist outfits, have been mounting protests demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit and let a neutral government oversee elections due by the end of January.

Hasina — daughter of the country’s founding leader — has been in power for 15 years and has overseen rapid economic growth with Bangladesh overtaking neighbouring India in GDP per capita, but her government is accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

The BNP has called a “grand rally” for Saturday, with party spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan saying it expects “more than a million people” to turn out.

“A sea of people will join the protest,” he told AFP.

He said police had arrested at least 1,500 people including several senior BNP officials in the past four days in an effort to disrupt preparations.

“They have raided door to door and arrested people while they were holding meeting indoors,” he said.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) spokesman Faruk Hossain confirmed there had been detentions but rejected the figure, saying some 400 BNP activists and supporters had been held in the past week.

“We are arresting only those people who face cases or arrest warrants,” he told AFP.

Police have set up checkposts at entry points to the capital, Dhaka district police chief Mohammad Asaduzzaman told AFP, in what the opposition says is a tactic to prevent its activists entering the city.

Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has also called a demonstration on Saturday, but DMP spokesman Faruk said authorities had banned the party from holding any protests.

“We’ll defy the ban and hold our protests peacefully, holding protests is our constitutional right,” said party spokesman Hamidur Rahman Azad, adding police had arrested more than 140 Jamaat activists over the past three days.

Western governments have expressed concern over the political climate in Bangladesh, where Hasina’s ruling Awami League dominates the legislature and runs it virtually as a rubber stamp.

Her security forces are accused of detaining tens of thousands of opposition activists, killing hundreds in extrajudicial encounters and disappearing hundreds of leaders and supporters.

The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) security force and seven of its senior officers were sanctioned by Washington in 2021 in response to those alleged rights abuses.

The BNP’s ailing leader Khaleda Zia, a two-time premier and old foe of Hasina’s, is effectively under house arrest after a conviction on graft charges.