The anti-government mobilization left at least 300 dead

Anti-government protesters plan to march en masse on the capital, Dhaka, on Monday, while the ruling party’s youth movement also plans to take to the streets.

The clashes between protesters demanding the resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and supporters of the ruling Awami League party are bringing mourning to Bangladesh. According to a tally made Monday, August 4 by AFP based on data from police, officials and doctors in hospitals, the death toll stands at at least 300 since the start of the protests a month earlier. On Sunday, 94 people were killed in new clashes across the country, including at least 14 police officers, according to police spokesman Kamrul Ahsan.

This is the heaviest toll in a single day in this country of 170 million inhabitants where students are protesting, against a backdrop of acute unemployment among graduates, the favours granted to those close to the government to become civil servants.

Anti-government protesters plan to march en masse on the capital, Dhaka, on Monday. “The time has come for the final manifestation”said one of the leaders of the student movement behind the protests, Asif Mahmud, on Sunday. A large security presence has been deployed in Dhaka, where the streets leading to the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been barricaded by police and the army with barbed wire.

A curfew came into effect in the country on Sunday evening. To restore order, the government has cut off internet access, closed schools and universities, imposed a curfew and deployed the army. However, former military officers have since come out in support of the protesters. In several cases, soldiers and police have not intervened against the protesters.

“The shocking violence in Bangladesh must stop,” urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Sunday evening, worried about Monday. On the occasion of this day, “The youth movement of the ruling party is mobilizing against the protesters,” he recalled, which could lead to further violence.