B'desh imposes curfew, deploys army after violence in Hasina's stronghold

The violence began on July 16 when attackers vandalised a stage set up for a rally organized by the National Citizen Party, a newly formed political group launched by student activists

By Arun Devnath

 

Bangladesh’s interim government has imposed a curfew and deployed the army to contain violence in the political stronghold of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party after attacks on a student-led rally. 

The curfew in the district of Gopalganj, the ancestral home of Hasina, began on Wednesday evening and will continue until 6 pm on Thursday, according to a government  statement. Four people were killed in clashes with security forces, according to the Prothom Alo newspaper. 

 

The violence began on Wednesday when attackers vandalised a stage set up for a rally organized by the National Citizen Party, a newly formed political group launched by student activists following the uprising that toppled Hasina last year.

 

Television footage showed police initially struggling to contain the attackers before military personnel were deployed. 

 

In a separate statement on Wednesday, the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus condemned the attack as a “heinous act” and accused members of the banned Awami League — Hasina’s party — for the violence, vowing the perpetrators would not go “unpunished.”  

 

 

The new wave of violence signals rising political uncertainty in the South Asian nation barely a year after Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country and the current administration was brought to power.

 

“Those responsible for this brutality will face justice,” the government said. “Let it be made absolutely clear: violence has no place in our nation. Justice must and will prevail.”