Dhaka: Clashes between Bangladeshi protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and government supporters left at least eight people dead on Sunday, including knife and bullet wounds, police and medics said.
Three people died in the northern Pabna district, two in the northern Rangpur district, two in Dhaka's Munshiganj district and one in the western Magura district, police and doctors told AFP.
Asif Mahmoud, one of the leaders of the national anti-government protests, urged his supporters to be ready to fight.
“Get your bamboo ready and liberate Bangladesh,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
As the army stepped in to restore order after earlier protests, some former military officers joined the student movement, and former army chief Gen. Iqbal Karim Buyyan changed his Facebook profile picture to red in support.
Current army chief Weger-uz-Zaman told officers at the army headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday that “the Bangladesh Army is a symbol of the people’s trust.”
“The army will always stand by the people and act in the interests of the people and the needs of the state,” he said in a statement issued by the army on Saturday.
The statement did not provide further details and did not explicitly state whether the military supported the protests.
Protests against civil service job quotas sparked days of unrest in July, leaving more than 200 people dead, one of the worst unrests during Hasina's 15 years in power.
The military was able to temporarily restore order, but large crowds returned to the streets this week in a largely uncooperative movement aimed at undermining the government.
On Saturday, when hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Dhaka, most of the police were bystanders watching the rally.
Increased movement
The protests have grown into a broader anti-government movement in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.
The mass movement has included people from all walks of life in Bangladeshi society, including film stars, musicians, singers and rappers calling for support, which has spread widely on social media.
“It’s not about the job quota anymore,” said Sakhawat, a protester who gave only her first name, as she scrawled a message on a wall at a protest site in Dhaka, calling Hasina a “killer.”
“What we want is for our next generation to be able to live freely in our country.”
Counter-protests in support of the government are also expected.
Obaidul Quader, general secretary of Hasina's ruling Awami League party, has called on party activists to gather in “all districts of Dhaka” and “all districts” across the country to show their support for the government.
“We don’t want any confrontation,” Quader said.
The capital Dhaka was tense on Sunday, with fewer cars and buses on usually congested roads in the megacity of 20 million people.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to gather in Dhaka and across the country.
Student protests
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, the group responsible for organizing the first protests, called for nationwide rallies.
The protests will be held at entry points into Dhaka, with the main rally taking place at Shahbag Square in central Dhaka, where crowds gathered on Sunday morning.
“We will hold peaceful protests, but if anyone attacks us, we call on everyone to be prepared,” the group said in a statement late Saturday.
Anti-discrimination student group calls on compatriots to stop paying taxes, water and electricity bills from Sunday to pressure government
They also called on government workers and garment factory workers, who are crucial to the country's economy, to stop protesting.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won a fourth straight election in January after voting without real opposition.
Her government has been accused by human rights groups of abusing state institutions to seize power and suppress dissent, including by unlawfully killing opposition activists.
Protests began in early July demanding the reintroduction of the quota scheme, which reserved more than half of government jobs for certain groups of people. The Bangladesh Supreme Court has since scaled back the scheme.
