Thousands of students rallied in Bangladesh on Thursday to mark the one-month anniversary of the fall of long-serving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after deadly protests.
Students, workers and families of those killed in the unrest joined the “March for Martyrs” carrying the national flag and chanting slogans such as “Blood of the martyrs is our power”.
The anti-government protests started in July as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas and escalated into an nationwide uprising against Hasina.
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More than 1,000 people lost their lives in the unrest, which forced Hasina to resign and flee to India on August 5 just before before her official residence was stormed by crowds. The violence continued for several days after she fled.
An interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus replaced Hasina’s administration, with the mandate to restore stability following the country’s deadliest violence since its independence in 1971, implement reforms, and organise fresh parliamentary elections.
“My son’s name was never included in any official list of martyrs. I came here today to honour him and the victory his death brought,” said Amir Ali, whose son died in the protests. “They asked us to come here to remember the martyrs.”
Nahid Islam, 26, a key protest organiser who now serves in Yunus’ cabinet, said, “We’ve got a new Bangladesh in exchange for their blood. We are alive for them. Freedom of speech is back.”
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal stepped down on Thursday amid widespread reshuffles. The administration change has also forced out the chief justice, the central bank governor and the police chief who oversaw the crackdown on the students, among other officials.
The United Nations Human Rights Office announced last Friday that it would dispatch a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh at the request of the interim government to investigate alleged human rights violations during the recent deadly violence.