Protesters ask PM to resign
Protesting students at a rally attended by thousands in Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on Saturday announced a one-point demand for the resignation of the government, shifting from their earlier position of a nine-point charter of demands seeking justice for victims of the quota reform movement that left over 200 killed in July.
Nahid Islam, one of the coordinators of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, a platform of protesting students, announced the one-point demand rejecting a call for dialogue made by prime minister Sheikh Hasina earlier in the day.
‘We are saying clearly that it is not just enough for Sheikh Hasina to resign. Justice must be ensured for corruption, killings, disappearances, and looting in the country,’ said Nahid.
Nahid demanded that, besides the prime minister, all members of her cabinet resign immediately.
‘A national outline for the transfer of power will be presented soon in consultation with representatives of citizens at all levels,’ Nahid said, also reiterating their call for all-out non-cooperation from today to press home their demand.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan later at a press conference on Saturday said that the protests were no longer limited to student protests but rather turned into a political movement.
Students continued their protests in many other places across the country on Saturday when they were attacked in Cumilla, allegedly by activists of the ruling party and in associate bodies.
Protesters also clashed with police in Gazipur, which left at least one protester killed, said the district’s police superintendent, Qazi Shafiqul Alam.
In Dhaka, police, however, were hardly seen creating any barriers for the students, who were joined by a cross-section of people at the Central Shaheed Minar.
Speaking at the rally, Nahid, who appeared as the de facto leader of the protests, said that they would form a new Bangladesh with equality, justice, and human dignity through the mass uprising of students and people.
He also promised to make such a political settlement so that autocracy and fascism could never return.
‘Justice must be ensured for all murders, and all political prisoners will be freed,’ he said, giving a fresh 24-hour ultimatum to reopen campuses and dormitories.
If the authorities do not reopen the campuses by this time, the students will take responsibility in their hands to reopen the residential halls.
He said that they would form a Student Action Committee with the leaders of the Student Movement Against Discrimination.
‘We will also form a Jatiya Sangram Parishad comprising people from all sectors, regardless of socio-political identities,’ he added.
Thousands of people, including students, teachers, parents, lawyers, and civil society representatives in Dhaka and other places on Saturday took to the streets demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina for killing students and general people.
