Dhaka, Aug 15 (EFE).- Groups of students wielding sticks attacked supporters of the Awami League, the party of disgraced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday in Dhaka.
The Awami League supporters had gathered to commemorate the assassination of Bangladesh’s independence hero, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also Hasina’s father.
According to Bangladeshi media, the clashes occurred outside Rahman’s former residence in Dhaka, where hundreds of students attacked several Awami League members.
“We have been here since morning so that no one can create any violence,” said Saidul Islam Saad.
The student of Sir Salimullah Medical College donned the national flag as a headband and carried a stick covered in green near Mujib Museum in Dhanmondi-32, which was burned into ashes after the fall of Hasina.
“We have seen that there are attempts to foil our revolution, like our judges tried to do a few days ago. We will not allow anyone to do this,” he told EFE.
He patrolled an area of Dhaka where Awami League demonstrations were expected Until this year, August 15 was observed as the National Day of Mourning, commemorating Rahman’s assassination, along with most of his family members, at his official residence in 1975. Hasina was not in Bangladesh at the time.
Mass events and demonstrations were typically held to mark the day.
However, after she was ousted unceremoniously on August 5, under pressure from student protests, the new interim government designated August 15 as a regular calendar day without explanation.
The protests, which began peacefully on July 1, were led by university students opposed to a controversial job quota system for public employment that favored descendants of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War fighters.
The demonstrations rapidly escalated and were met with severe repression by the authorities. By August 5, the situation had become untenable for Hasina, the leader of the Awami League, who had ruled uninterruptedly since 2009.
According to the EFE tally, more than 400 people have died in Bangladesh since student protests against Hasina’s government began on July 1.
The daughter of Bangladesh’s founder was disgraced and forced to resign and flee Dhaka on an air force plane that landed in India. EFE
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