Dhaka
Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, announced on Saturday that it will not allow the Awami League, the party of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to hold a planned rally today (Sunday). Yunus’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, described the Awami League as a “fascist party” and warned that any attempt to disrupt order would face strict action.
“The Awami League in its current form is a fascist party,” Alam stated in a Facebook post. He added that anyone following orders from “mass murderer and Dictator Sheikh Hasina” to hold demonstrations would be met with the “full force” of law enforcement.
This rally call is the first since August 5, when Hasina fled to India amid mass student protests that eventually led to the fall of her government. The Awami League, in a post on its official Facebook page, urged supporters to gather at Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar in Dhaka’s Gulistan district to protest against what it called “misrule” and “the rise of fundamentalist forces.”
The rally location, Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar, holds historical importance, as it was where Awami League leader Noor Hossain was killed in 1987 during a protest against military rule. The current interim government previously banned the Awami League’s student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, citing its “fascist role” in student protests earlier this year.
While some political factions have called for banning the Awami League, Yunus said that banning political parties should be left to individual groups.
