#ex pm hasina

[thoughtlessarse]

Bangladesh's interim government revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, after she fled a student-led uprising by helicopter to India earlier this month. The move to cancel Hasina's documents leaves the former autocratic leader in potential limbo, and comes on the same day that a United Nations team arrived in Dhaka to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations. More than 450 people were killed -- many by police fire -- during the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, as crowds stormed her official residence in Dhaka and ended her iron-fisted 15-year rule. The interior ministry said in a statement that Hasina's passport and those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts "have to be revoked". It also poses a diplomatic dilemma for Hasina's current host, regional powerhouse India. […] Hasina's government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents. The UN rights office assessing the protest response had said in a preliminary report last week that there were "strong indications, warranting further independent investigation, that the security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force".

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[allthegeopolitics]

The chief justice of Bangladesh’s top court has said he agreed “in principle” to resign after an ultimatum from protesters, days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to neighbouring India. Obaidul Hassan, who was appointed to helm the Supreme Court last year and is seen as a loyalist to Hasina, was told to step down on Saturday by protesters who gathered outside the court in the capital, Dhaka.

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[beardedmrbean]

Bangladesh's parliament has been dissolved, a day after prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced from power.

Ms Hasina resigned and fled the country after weeks of student-led protests spiralled into deadly unrest.

The dissolution of parliament, a key demand of protesters, paves the way for establishing an interim government.

Bangladeshis are waiting to see what comes next, as the country's military chief is holding talks with political leaders and protest organisers.

According to local media, more than 100 people died in violent clashes across Bangladesh on Monday, the single deadliest day since mass demonstrations began.

Hundreds of police stations were also torched, with the Bangladesh Police Service Association (BPSA) declaring a strike "until the security of every member of the police is secure".

The group also sought to place the blame at the door of authorities, saying they were "forced to fire".

Overall, more than 400 people are believed to have died, as protests were met with harsh repression by government forces.

The protests began in early July with peaceful demands from university students to abolish quotas in civil service jobs, but snowballed into a broader anti-government movement.

Weeks of unrest culminated in the storming of the prime minister's official residence, not long after Ms Hasina had fled to neighbouring India, ending nearly 15 years of rule.

Bangladeshi leaders are under pressure to establish an interim government to avoid a power vacuum that could lead to further clashes.

Within hours of her resignation, Bangladesh's army chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman pledged that an interim administration would be formed, adding on state television that "it is time to stop the violence".

Student leaders have been clear they will not accept a military-led government, pushing for Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to become the interim government's chief adviser.

Mr Yunus, who agreed to take up the role, said: “When the students who sacrificed so much are requesting me to step in at this difficult juncture, how can I refuse?”

He is returning to Dhaka from Paris, where he is undergoing a minor medical procedure, according to his spokesperson.

Meanwhile, ex-prime minister and key opposition leader Khaleda Zia was released from years of house arrest, a presidential statement said.

She chairs the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted elections in 2014 and again in 2024, saying free and fair elections were not possible under Ms Hasina.

The BNP wanted the polls to be held under a neutral caretaker administration. This has now become a possibility after the departure of Ms Hasina, who had always rejected this demand.

Ms Zia, 78, served as prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996, but was imprisoned in 2018 for corruption, although she said the charges were politically motivated.

She was not the only opposition figure to be released after years of detention.

Activist Ahmad Bin Quasem was also released from detention, according to his lawyer Michael Polak.

Rights groups say Mr Quasem was taken away by security forces in 2016, just one of hundreds of forced disappearances in the country under Ms Hasina's rule.

"There were many points during his detention that he was feared dead, and the uncertainty was one of the many tools of repression utilised by the regime," Mr Polak explained, adding they hoped the decision to release political prisoners "is a positive sign of their intentions".

"Unfortunately, the good news won’t be shared by all," he told the BBC, stating that a number of political prisoners had died in custody.

At least 20 other families of political prisoners gathered outside a military intelligence force building in the capital Dhaka earlier in the day, still desperately waiting for news about their loved ones, AFP news agency reports.

"We need answers," Sanjida Islam Tulee, a co-ordinator of Mayer Daak (The Call of the Mothers) campaign group, told the news agency.

Across the border in India, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said he was "deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored" in Bangladesh, with which India shares a 4,096-km (2,545-mile) border and has close economic and cultural ties.

He gave the first official confirmation that Ms Hasina made a request to travel to India at "very short notice" and "arrived yesterday evening in Delhi".

India also deployed additional troops along its border with Bangladesh.

"Our border guarding forces have also been instructed to be exceptionally alert in view of this complex situation," Mr Jaishankar said.

[leprivatebanker]

Bangladesh revokes ban imposed on main Islamic party by ex-PM Hasina

[warningsine]

Bangladesh's interim government revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, after she fled a student-led uprising by helicopter to India earlier this month.

The move to cancel Hasina's documents leaves the former autocratic leader in potential limbo, and comes on the same day that a United Nations team arrived in Dhaka to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations.

More than 450 people were killed -- many by police fire -- during the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, as crowds stormed her official residence in Dhaka and ended her iron-fisted 15-year rule.

The interior ministry said in a statement that Hasina's passport and those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts "have to be revoked".

It also poses a diplomatic dilemma for Hasina's current host, regional powerhouse India.

'Disproportionate force'

Hasina, who fled to an airbase near India's capital New Delhi, was a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu-nationalist government preferred her over her rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which it saw as closer to conservative Islamist groups.

While India is hosting Hasina, Modi has also offered his support to the new Bangladeshi leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration.

"The former prime minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held," Dhaka's home ministry said in a statement.

"If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses' diplomatic passports have to be revoked."

Dhaka's new authorities said that Hasina, and other former top officials during her tenure, could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval.

"When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued," the ministry added.

Hasina's government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.

The UN rights office assessing the protest response had said in a preliminary report last week that there were "strong indications, warranting further independent investigation, that the security forces used unnecessary and disproportionate force".

Yunus has said his administration would "provide whatever support" UN investigators need.

Separately, a Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal set up by Hasina has launched three "mass murder" probes into its founder over the recent unrest.

[multipolar-online]

A contribuição americana de 2024 para desestabilizar Bangladesh e as semelhanças com o movimento de independência de Bangladesh de 1971

Crise de Bangladesh de 2024: uma repetição moderna da luta de 1971, examinando a influência dos EUA em meio a mudanças de poder global e confrontos do BRICS.

Pense no BRICS

Shankar Iyer

11 de agosto de 2024

O protesto estudantil de Bangladesh se metamorfoseou em uma incerteza político-religiosa, ameaça empurrar a nação para um abismo e desestabilizar toda a região. O que supostamente foi um desacordo entre estudantes e o governo em 2018 sobre a cota de reserva para descendentes dos combatentes da liberdade de Bangladesh que lutaram pela libertação contra o Paquistão, agora é um movimento político-religioso violento com intenções genocidas que convenientemente atende aos interesses estratégicos americanos.

As agências americanas têm a reputação de realizar operações abertas e secretas de mudança de regime em países do Sul Global, bem como atuar como capitalistas de risco para cultivar milícias armadas e forças terroristas islâmicas desde o início.

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Prometa seu apoio

Desestabilizando uma nação: o jeito americano

Como desestabilizar uma nação?

O estabelecimento de uma base americana em qualquer parte do mundo é frequentemente precedido por fatores desestabilizadores, como a violência da multidão projetada em nome da liberdade de expressão e da democracia, atos de execuções públicas horríveis de comunidades minoritárias e, em seguida, o estabelecimento de um fantoche, às vezes residindo no Reino Unido colonial ou nos EUA neocoloniais, como o próximo líder nacional encarregado de promover a democracia. Instituto Albert Einstein - uma ONG com sede em East Boston, Massachusetts, especializada em operações de mudança de regime, criando distúrbios civis, lista 198 métodos para derrubar qualquer governo. Como muitas outras operações de mudança de regime do passado, os eventos em Bangladesh se alinham perfeitamente com a metodologia propagada por este Instituto.

Por que Bangladesh?

Bangladesh tem uma relação amigável e cordial com a Índia e a China – os gigantes asiáticos e os estados-nação civilizacionais que são vistos como adversários pela hegemonia neocolonial. A localização geográfica de Bangladesh dá à nação acesso à região do Oceano Índico e qualquer instabilidade em Bangladesh cria complicações para a Índia e a China, além de oferecer aos EUA uma desculpa para se infiltrar na região para estabelecer sua presença. Atualmente, a Marinha indiana é um importante provedor de segurança marítima da região e os americanos não têm nenhuma presença ativa ou base na área da Baía de Bengala, no Oceano Índico.

Bangladesh é a próxima frente na guerra contra o BRICS?

A crise de Bangladesh parece ser parte de uma estratégia mais ampla dos Estados Unidos e do Ocidente Coletivo, destinada a confrontar o bloco BRICS direta e indiretamente. É importante reconhecer que a adesão de Bangladesh ao Novo Banco de Desenvolvimento, comumente chamado de Banco dos BRICS, não é uma mera coincidência. Quando visto em conjunto com outras áreas de tensão, como a guerra Rússia-Ucrânia, o conflito Israel-Gaza perto do Egito (um novo membro do BRICS) e os esforços contínuos para aumentar as tensões com o Irã (outro membro recente), ou o cenário de conflito potencial entre China e Taiwan alimentado pela mídia ocidental e a recente agitação envolvendo a Venezuela (um possível membro do BRICS e vizinho próximo de Brasil), o padrão torna-se evidente. O alinhamento dessas crises dificilmente é acidental, revelando uma estratégia clara em jogo, não acha?

Tentativas secretas e abertas americanas de derrubar o PM de Bangladesh

Tentativas abertas

O ex-primeiro-ministro de Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, em um discurso recente, disse: "Eu poderia ter permanecido no poder se tivesse deixado St. Martin's e a Baía de Bengala para a América", relata o Firstpost.

A Ilha de São Martinho é uma pequena ilha de recife de coral na Baía de Bengala com uma área de 3 quilômetros quadrados que dá acesso direto ao Estreito de Malaca. Uma base americana nesta ilha pode ajudar nas atividades de vigilância contra a China, Índia e Mianmar.

Em maio de 2024, a então primeira-ministra Sheikh Hasina alegou que um 'Homem Branco' se aproximou dela com uma oferta para construir uma base militar em um certo país desconhecido na Ilha de St. Martin em troca de sua reeleição tranquila em 2024. News18 cita Sheikh Hasina dizendo: "Como Timor-Leste ... eles criarão um país cristão, tomando partes de Bangladesh (Chattogram) e Mianmar com uma base na Baía de Bengala".

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Tentativas secretas

As tentativas secretas americanas de desestabilização e derrubada de governos são muito mais sutis e ocorrem ao longo de algum tempo com esforços institucionais consistentes. Anos antes de instalar pessoas com fortes laços com o Ocidente como líderes de nações desestabilizadas, os coletivos ocidentais tendem a apoiá-los como visionários em plataformas públicas e publicações de mídia. Alguns métodos comuns incluem o uso de felicitações como o Prêmio Nobel da Paz ou os prêmios Magsaysay, convites para falar em renomadas universidades ocidentais e campi universitários para influenciar mentes jovens a participar de manifestações (a serem vistas junto com os 198 Métodos de Mudança de Regime do Instituto Albert Einstein mencionados acima), promovendo esquemas duvidosos de bem-estar social, etc.

O ganhador do Prêmio Nobel da Paz Muhammad Yunus, economista de Bangladesh de 84 anos e fundador do Grameen Bank - uma instituição que oferece facilidades de microcrédito, foi escolhido para liderar o governo interino de Bangladesh. Anthony Blinken, secretário de Estado dos EUA, foi rápido em saudar publicamente essa decisão, mas convenientemente optou por ignorar a violência contra os hindus de Bangladesh e outros grupos religiosos minoritários. Ironicamente, Blinken é parte integrante do Departamento de Estado dos EUA, que divulga índices politicamente motivados sobre liberdade religiosa em outros países.

Em 2010, Yunus foi envolvido em um processo legal, supostamente por peculato de US $ 2 milhões (aproximadamente 252,2 milhões de Taka de Bangladesh), relata o News18. Além das alegações de apropriação indébita de fundos e acusações de corrupção, Yunus também foi condenado a seis meses de prisão em janeiro de 2024 por violações da lei trabalhista, relata o Economic Times. Ele recebeu fiança pelas violações da lei trabalhista depois que optou por contestar a decisão na Suprema Corte.

Criação de Bangladesh, apoio americano ao genocídio no Paquistão Oriental, e a ligação com a desdolarização

O atual estado-nação de Bangladesh era historicamente parte da província de Bengala, na Índia, mesmo antes do período colonial britânico. A província de Bengala, no leste, e a província de Punjab, no oeste, foram divididas pelos britânicos e renomeadas para Paquistão Oriental e Paquistão Ocidental em 1947, antes que a Índia conquistasse sua independência. Entre 1947 e 1971, o establishment do Paquistão Ocidental - um aliado de longa data dos americanos, envolveu-se sistematicamente no etnocídio do povo bengali. O exército paquistanês massacrou cerca de 3 milhões de bengalis e estuprou cerca de 400.000 mulheres em seus esforços genocidas, de acordo com uma publicação do Guardian.

Durante o auge da crise humanitária no Paquistão Oriental em 1971, a então primeira-ministra da Índia - Indira Gandhi, decidiu intervir apesar das advertências dos Estados Unidos. Os EUA temiam que seu aliado, o Paquistão Ocidental, pudesse perder sua fortaleza na Baía de Bengala se os bengaleses conseguissem garantir sua libertação do exército paquistanês. A América neocolonial liderada pelo presidente Nixon na época, despachou a 7ª frota da Marinha dos EUA liderada pelo maior porta-aviões nuclear USS Enterprise, relata o India Today. O Reino Unido colonial acompanhou o despacho do HMS Eagle. O apoio britânico e americano ao genocídio dos bengalis no Paquistão Oriental foi interrompido pela intervenção oportuna da Marinha Soviética com navios com armas nucleares, submarinos atômicos, cruzadores e destróieres. Eles admitiram a derrota quando um comandante britânico disse ao colega americano: "Senhor, estamos muito atrasados. Há submarinos atômicos russos aqui e uma grande coleção de navios de guerra".

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Prometa seu apoio

Coincidências estranhas: 1971 e 2024

Em 15 de agosto de 1971, quando a Índia estava comemorando seu 24º Dia da Independência da ocupação britânica, o presidente Nixon removeu o dólar americano (atualmente a moeda de reserva global do mundo) de seu padrão-ouro. Isso impediu a conversibilidade do dólar americano em ouro e marcou o início de um dólar fiduciário.

A violência em Bangladesh eclodiu em 4 de junho de 2024 – a data exata em que o amplamente popular e democraticamente eleito primeiro-ministro indiano Narendra Modi foi empossado para seu terceiro mandato. O primeiro-ministro Modi é um participante ativo com o presidente Putin e o presidente Xi no processo de desdolarização liderado pelos países do BRICS. Modi também é o idealizador do agrupamento chamado Voz do Sul Global - um coletivo de 120+ países com o objetivo comum de descolonizar nações historicamente oprimidas e democratizar organismos internacionais.

Os colonos e neocoloniais ocidentais apoiaram grupos islâmicos radicais que perpetraram limpeza étnica em 1971 e 2024, enquanto reivindicavam seu alinhamento com ideais como democracia, direitos humanos, liberdade religiosa, direitos das minorias, etc. Claro, esse ponto específico é uma política padrão dos governos ocidentais e padrões de comportamento de suas casas de mídia e não pode ser rotulado como uma coincidência pontual.

Entre 1947 e 1971, o Paquistão Oriental e Ocidental realizaram eleições conjuntas, e o vencedor administrou ambos os territórios, apesar da vasta divisão geográfica. Em 1970, o xeque Mujibur Rahman foi o primeiro candidato do Paquistão Oriental a vencer as eleições. No entanto, o Paquistão Ocidental, que estava predominantemente sob o controle do Exército, e continua a permanecer assim até hoje, recusou-se a reconhecer a vitória de Rehman. Na época, os EUA optaram por ficar do lado do ditatorial exército paquistanês e contra o líder democraticamente eleito.

Nas eleições de 2024, rivais políticos de Sheikh Hasina – filha de Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, optaram voluntariamente por boicotar as eleições e apresentaram aos EUA uma desculpa para rotular o governo como ditatorial e interferir nos assuntos internos.

Bangladesh 2024: uma nação na encruzilhada da história e do poder global

À luz dos eventos que se desenrolam, é evidente que a crise de 2024 em Bangladesh não é uma ocorrência isolada, mas sim uma manobra calculada dentro do tabuleiro de xadrez geopolítico mais amplo. Os paralelos impressionantes com o movimento de independência de 1971 servem como um lembrete gritante das persistentes intervenções estrangeiras que continuam a moldar o destino das nações do Sul Global. Enquanto Bangladesh está na encruzilhada da história mais uma vez, os ecos do passado nos alertam sobre os perigos à frente, enquanto os interesses estratégicos de poderosos atores globais lançam uma longa sombra sobre o futuro da nação. A questão permanece: Bangladesh forjará seu próprio caminho ou mais uma vez se tornará um peão em um jogo maior?

[indiaepost]

Ex-B'desh PM Hasina issues 'first statement' after ouster

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in India after the fall of her government following a mass uprising, has demanded an investigation into the killings, vandalism and arson carried out in the name of agitation in her country. She also demanded on Tuesday that the culprits be identified and brought to justice, The Daily Star reported. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina’s son,…

[bhaskarlive]

Ex-B’desh PM Hasina issues ‘first statement’ after ouster

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in India after the fall of her government following a mass uprising, has demanded an investigation into the killings, vandalism and arson carried out in the name of agitation in her country.

She also demanded on Tuesday that the culprits be identified and brought to justice, The Daily Star reported.

Source: bhaskarlive.in

[rightnewshindi]

ढाका छोड़ने के बाद शेख हसीना ने पहली बार तोड़ी चुप्पी, कहा, पूर्व पीएम के नाम पर हुए आंदोलन ने देश बर्बाद कर दिया

Bangladesh Ex PM Sheikh Hasina 1st reaction: बांग्लादेश में हिंसात्मक विरोध प्रदर्शनों के चलते पीएम पद से जबरिया इस्तीफा देने को मजबूर हुईं पूर्व पीएम शेख हसीना ने ढाका छोड़ने के बाद पहली बार अपनी चुप्पी तोड़ी है। पूर्व पीएम ने देश में हुए आंदोलन के नाम पर हुआ बर्बादी का नाच करार दिया है। उन्होंने कहा कि विरोध के नाम पर विध्वंस किया गया। आम लोगों, नेताओं, पुलिसवालों, सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओं की…

[news2024news]

Bangladesh court orders probe in murder case against ex-PM Sheikh Hasina http://dlvr.it/TBsN2X

[thoughtlessarse]

A murder investigation has been opened into Bangladesh's ex-premier Sheikh Hasina over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month. Six other top figures in the previous government are also being investigated following weeks of deadly unrest in the capital Dhaka. Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen, said the court in Dhaka had ordered police to accept "the murder case against the accused persons". This is the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.

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[taaza-khabar]

Bangladesh Protests News Live: Jamaat-e-Islami says Hindu temples targeted, Ex-PM Khaleda Zia calls to rebuild nation

Bangladesh Political Crisis Live Updates: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is still in India following the collapse of her government amid widespread anarchy in Dhaka over a controversial quota system for government jobs. Meanwhile in Dhaka, former Prime Minister and chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Khaleda Zia has been freed from prison after being convicted in two cases…

[beardedmrbean]

Student protesters and activists assaulted supporters of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinain Bangladesh on Thursday.

Armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes, the protesters used violence to prevented the supporters of the former PM from reaching the previous residence of her father, assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka.

The house in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area has become a museum to showcase mementos and other objects from a military coup on August 15, 1975, when Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family. The Bangabandhu Memorial Museum was torched by the protesters hours after Hasina's ousting earlier this month. The ousting followed weeks of unrest during which more than 300 people lost their lives.

Hasina called on supporters to march

Thursday is the anniversary of Rahman's assassination, and Hasina, now self- exiled in India, urged her supporters to pay their respects to her father.

The anniversary was viewed as a public holiday and a day of mourning under the Hasina administration. The new interim government has shelved the practice.

At the time of her father's death, Hasina and her younger sister were visiting Germany.

On Thursday, many of the supporters were manhandled while journalists were threatened for filming the incidents at the scene,  witnesses said.

UN expected to send fact-finding mission to Dhaka

Meanwhile, a United Nations mission is due to head to Dhaka next week to investigate alleged atrocities committed during the violent protests that saw the end of Hasina's time as leader.

"The mission will act independently," Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, told reporters. 

The interim government will extend every possible assistance the UN to make the investigation credible and impartial, Touhid Hossain, the foreign affairs adviser, told the media after meeting with Lewis.

[williamchasterson]

'There is no law and order. And Hindus are being targeted again'

Hindu properties and shrines have been attacked after ex-PM Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh. from BBC News https://ift.tt/UvQ3EbC via IFTTT

[sa7abnews]

Bangladesh protesters demand PM resign as death toll mounts

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/06/bangladesh-protesters-demand-pm-resign-as-death-toll-mounts/

Bangladesh protesters demand PM resign as death toll mounts

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign clashed with government supporters Sunday, with dozens killed in one of the deadliest days since demonstrations began.

Rallies that began last month against civil service job quotas have escalated into some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year rule and shifted into wider calls for the 76-year-old to step down.

At least 50 people were killed on Sunday alone, the rival sides battling with sticks and knives and security forces firing rifles, taking the total killed since protests began in July to at least 243.

However, soldiers and police in several cases did not intervene to stem the protests, unlike the past month of rallies that repeatedly ended in deadly crackdowns.

A respected former army chief also demanded the government withdraw troops and allow protests in a hugely symbolic rebuke of Hasina.

Demonstrators in Dhaka, surrounded by a tightly packed and cheering crowd, waved a Bangladeshi flag on top of an armoured car as soldiers watched, according to videos on social media verified by media sources.

But elsewhere foreign reporters reported hearing the constant crackle of gunfire from security forces, while mobile internet was tightly restricted and police ordered a nationwide curfew beginning at 6:00 pm (1200 GMT).

Furious protesters seemed determined to continue.

‘Battleground’ 

Troops briefly imposed order after violence erupted in July.

However, crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this month in a non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government.

Vast crowds of protesters, many wielding sticks, packed into Dhaka’s central Shahbagh Square on Sunday, with street battles in multiple sites as well as in other key cities, police said.

“There were clashes between students and the ruling party men,” police inspector Al Helal told news agency AFP, saying two young men were killed in Dhaka’s Munshiganj district.

“One of the dead was hacked in his head and another had gunshot injuries.”

Another policeman, who asked not to be identified, said “the whole city has turned into a battleground”.

Two people were killed in the northern city of Kishioreganj, where protesters torched a ruling party office, police said.

Police and doctors also reported deaths in districts in the north, west, south and centre of the capital. Six people were killed in the northern town of Raiganj, government administrator Nahid Hasan Khan told AFP.

Asif Mahmud, one of the key leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, urged supporters to rally after last month’s marches were crushed by police.

“Prepare bamboo sticks and liberate Bangladesh,” he wrote on Facebook Sunday.

Some former military officers have joined the student movement and ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan turned his Facebook profile picture red in a show of support.

“We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately,” Bhuiyan told reporters Sunda in a joint statement alongside other senior ex-officers, condemning “egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests”.

“Those who are responsible for pushing people of this country to a state of such an extreme misery will have to be brought to justice”, he said.

 ‘No longer about job quotas’

Current army chief Waker-uz-Zaman told officers at military headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday the “Bangladesh Army is the symbol of trust of the people”.

“It always stood by the people and will do so for the sake of people and in any need of the state,” he said, according to an army statement, which gave no further details and did not say explicitly whether the army backed the protests.

The protests have grown into a wider anti-government movement across the South Asian nation of some 170 million people.

The mass movement has attracted people from all strata of Bangladesh society, including film stars, musicians and singers. Rap songs calling for people’s support have spread widely on social media.

“It is no longer about job quotas,” said Sakhawat, a young female protester who gave only one name, as she scrawled graffiti on a wall at a protest site in Dhaka, calling Hasina a “killer”.

“What we want is that our next generation can live freely in the country.”

A group of 47 manufacturers in the economically vital garment sector said Sunday they stood in “solidarity” with the protesters.

Obaidul Quader, general secretary of Hasina’s ruling Awami League, has called on party activists to gather “in every district” nationwide to show their support for the government.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of the quota scheme, which reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups. It has since been scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court.