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Thousands of opposition supporters have rallied in the Bangladeshi capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government and the appointment of a caretaker ahead of the next general election, expected in early 2024.
Supporters of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) arrived at the protest site in Dhaka overnight under tight security, while Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan commented on the rally. Warning about possible violence.
Ms Hasina and her ruling Awami League party, which returned to power for the third time in a row in 2018, have repeatedly dismissed opposition demands, saying a caretaker government violates the spirit of the country’s constitution.
Crowds poured into the streets at the packed Golapbagh venue in Dhaka on Saturday morning, chanting slogans such as “Down with Hasina” and “We want fair elections.”
Saturday’s rally was the 10th since the main opposition party announced in September that it would stage protests in 10 major cities across the country.
All previous rallies outside Dhaka have drawn large crowds despite challenges, including what the party says is a politically motivated transport strike and intimidation by security agencies and the ruling party. Police and the ruling party have denied such allegations.
The rally in Dhaka came amid heightened tensions on Wednesday after police stormed the party headquarters following clashes with opposition supporters, killing at least one person and injuring 50 others.
Police arrested more than 400 opposition activists.
On Friday, detectives raided the homes of two senior party leaders, including Secretary-General Mirza Fahrul Islam Alamgir. Both were refused bail.
Some 1.5 million opposition supporters had attended the rally by Saturday afternoon, former two-term opposition lawmaker and party spokesman Chahirudin Swapan told The Associated Press.
“We want a free and fair election. To facilitate this, this authoritarian government must step down, Parliament must be dissolved and a new electoral commission installed,” he said. “They came to power through vote manipulation and intimidation.”
Farouk Hussain, a spokesman for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Department, told The Associated Press that the venue has a capacity of 30,000 people and that the rally would not draw more than 60,000 if neighboring streets were included.
Witnesses said as many as 100,000 opposition activists attended the rally.
The 1996 constitution introduced a system of caretaker government during elections to oversee national elections, but Ms Hasina abolished it through constitutional amendments in 2011 after the Supreme Court ruled that the system was inconsistent with the constitution.
The BNP boycotted elections in 2014, and the 2018 vote was disputed by allegations of fraud in the ruling party’s landslide victory.
Seven BNP lawmakers who attended the rally announced their resignations from parliament on Saturday.
Fifteen Western embassies issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling on the government to allow free speech, peaceful assembly and fair elections, a day after the United Nations issued a similar statement.
Bangladeshi politics is polarized, with Ms Hasina and Ms Zia among the most influential rivals. Although the country is a parliamentary democracy, it has a violent history of coups and counter-coups.
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