Student leaders rallied Bangladeshis for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign on Saturday, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government faces growing anger over a deadly police crackdown on protesters.
Rallies against reservation in civil service jobs Violence erupted for several days last month, leaving more than 200 people dead, the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.
The deployment of the army briefly restored order, but huge crowds took to the streets across the Muslim-majority country after Friday prayers as student leaders called for more concessions to press the government.
Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, urged its countrymen to launch a full-fledged non-cooperation movement from Sunday.
“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by government workers and a ban on remittances abroad through banks,” the group’s Asif Mahmood told AFP.
Mahmood’s fellow student leaders also said another round of nationwide rallies would be held on Saturday. “Please don’t sit at home. Join a protest march near you,” Mahmood wrote on Facebook.
The students are demanding a public apology from Hasina for last month’s violence and the sacking of several of her ministers.
He has also insisted that the government reopen schools and universities across the country, which were closed at the peak of the unrest.
The crowd on the streets has moved further and is shouting slogans demanding Hasina to step down.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive term in January after voting without any real opposition.
Human rights groups have accused his government of abusing state institutions to consolidate its grip on power and suppress dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
32 children were killed
Protests began in early July against the reintroduction of the quota scheme. Reduced by Bangladesh’s apex court – Which reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
Nearly 18 million young Bangladeshis are unemployed, according to government data, and the move has left graduates facing a severe employment crisis.
The protests were largely peaceful until police and pro-government student groups attacked protesters.
The Hasina government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed the army, and shut down the country’s mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.
Foreign governments have condemned the crackdown, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week called for an international investigation into the “excessive and lethal use of force against protesters.”
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last week that security forces had acted with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to protect government buildings.
The United Nations said on Friday that at least 32 children were among those killed last month.