Thousands of protesters have stormed Banga Bhaban, the presidential palace, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and demanded the resignation of President Mohammed Shahabuddin. The protesters started gathering at the Banga Bhaban after the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, which is leading the movement to oust the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government, declared five-point demands through a rally held at central Shaheed Minar.
The group made their intentions known on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday night, they began a march to Banga Bhaban. The army partially barred the protesters’ path with barricades. The protesters stood outside the palace, shouting slogans demanding the president’s resignation. “The President is a crony of Hasina’s authoritarian government. He must resign immediately.”
Mohammed Shahabuddin is the President of Bangladesh, a position he assumed as the 16th President. A jurist, civil servant, and politician, he was elected unopposed in the 2023 presidential election under the nomination of the Awami League.
The Anti-discrimination Student Movement also called for radical change. They want the abolition of the constitution of 1972 and to write a new one for 2024, the ban of the Awami League student organization called Bangladesh Chatra League, and the resignation of Shahabuddin.
The protesters want the elections held in 2018 and 2024 under Sheikh Hasina declared illegal. They also seek to disqualify Members of Parliament who won those elections and call for the Proclamation of the Republic to align with the spirit of the July-August uprising. Additionally, they emphasize the need for change.
These protests, also led mostly by students, originated in July over demands to abolish a quota system for government jobs. But turned into larger anti-government protests. Back in late July, when the protests started to heat up, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced her resignation on August 5. An interim government was formed shortly after.
On the same day, Hasina fled to India, and authorities appointed Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead the interim government. Furthermore, this shift marked a significant change in leadership. He took the oath on 8 August as the chief of Bangladesh’s interim government.
The protests are unrelenting, and tensions in the country remain high. In fact, demands for change also echo deep dissatisfaction with the prevailing political environment. The protest movement has held the future of the leadership. And governance of Bangladesh hostage in popular demands for accountability and reform.
ANI
