Bangladesh student protest leader calls for civil disobedience until PM resigns

At least 206 people have been killed since the start of the protests in July, most of them victims of gunfire by security forces.

The leader of the student protests that are shaking Bangladesh called on Saturday August 3 for a vast movement of civil disobedience until the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, more than a month after the start of the protests, the death toll of which stands at more than 200 according to AFP, which relied on local police and hospital data.

Coalition Students Against Discriminationconducted by Nahid Islam, and which initiated the first protests against civil service employment quotas last month, earlier in the day rejected the prime minister’s offer to open talks. The organisation also urged Bangladeshis to take part in civil disobedience starting Sunday.

“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by civil servants and the cessation of remittances abroad via banks.”Asif Mahmud, one of the members of the student organization, told AFP. Workers in garment factories, vital to the country’s economy, are also being asked to go on strike.

“Sheikh Hasina should not only resign, but also face trial for murder, looting and corruption”Nahid Islam, leader of the Students Against Discrimination coalition, told thousands of people in central Dhaka.

The social crisis, largely peaceful at first, turned into a political crisis from July 16, when the repression caused its first deaths. The demonstrators then demanded the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, 76, in power since 2009 and re-elected in January after a vote without real opposition.

The clashes are among the deadliest since the prime minister came to power. Her government has deployed the army, cut off internet access and imposed a curfew to restore order. Human rights groups accuse her of using state institutions to consolidate her grip on power and stamp out dissent, including by carrying out extrajudicial executions of opposition activists. Authorities have accused opposition parties of hijacking the protests to provoke unrest.