Bangladesh PM offers talks, protesters urge her to quit

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets again in Bangladesh to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

“We have reached a one-point demand for the resignation of the government of Sheikh Hasina to ensure human safety and establish social justice,” Nahid Islam, one of the co-ordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said before a crowd of several thousand protesters in Dhaka.

“We will enforce all-out non-cooperation actions across Bangladesh from Sunday,” he said.

The announcement came hours after Hasina called upon the agitating students to sit down with her to put on an end to violence.

“I want to listen to the students as most of their demands have been met. I want no conflict,” Hasina told a meeting with leaders from different professional groups at her heavily guarded official Gababhaban residence in Dhaka.

She said her government has launched a judicial inquiry into the violence to find out the culprits involved in the killings and acts of sabotage.

“Anyone found guilty will be brought to book,” she added.

Hasina has been running Bangladesh with an iron fist as prime minister since 2009 as political opponents call her an authoritarian trying to cling to power through rigid elections and repressive measures, despite the impoverished country witnessing major infrastructure development.

The protests against Hasina’s government began early last month after a High Court bench reinstated the controversial government job quota system, which was abolished in 2018.

The protests turned violent in mid-July and about 200 people were killed in clashes between the police and protesters, prompting the government to deploy army troops and impose curfew before the quota system reforms were made public on July 23.

Last month’s protests seemed to have calmed down somewhat but flared up again on Friday to demand justice for the victims of the killings.

On Saturday, footage showed the protesters carrying placards inscribed with anti-government slogans blocking intersections in Dhaka and putting barricades on highways in the other districts outside the capital.

They demanded Hasina step down, taking responsibility for the “mass killing and other atrocities by the police on peaceful demonstrations.”

The protesters in their thousands gathered centrally near the Dhaka University campus.

Similar agitations were reported from other parts of the country.