On Wednesday, Bangladesh security forces clashed with supporters of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At least four people were killed and dozens more were injured, as Manoj Barla, a nurse from Gopalganj District Hospital confirmed.
Violence erupted following a National Citizen Party (NCP) rally at a public park in Gopalganj town, which faced opposition from Awami League (AL) supporters despite a recent government ban on all political activities by the AL.
The district of Gopalganj, where the rally was headed, is politically sensitive, as it is home to Hasina’s ancestral house and the mausoleum of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
According to The Daily Star, a leading news outlet in Bangladesh, eyewitnesses claimed that police opened fire on demonstrators in some areas. A grocer in Chowrangi said he saw two people collapse as security forces fired shots to disperse the crowd.
Authorities later imposed an immediate blackout in the district.
Camera recordings revealed armed pro-Hasina protestors, confronting the police with sticks, setting cars and buses on fire as NCP leaders arrived at the new party’s “March to Rebuild the Nation” programme to commemorate the uprising. The NCP march was launched on July 1 across all districts in Bangladesh as part of its drive to position itself as a new force in Bangladeshi politics.
The interim government, under Muhammad Yunus, who replaced Hasina three days after her overthrow last year, labelled the violence in Gopalganj as “utterly indefensible”, calling the NCP rally “a shameful violation of their fundamental rights.”
The Awami League party later issued several announcements on X condemning the violence and accusing the interim government of the casualties on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Khulna on 17 July, the NCP leader, Nahid Islam said, "We came to Gopalganj with the July March programme, not a call for war. Our people were not allowed to enter from various upazilas of Gopalganj. Buses were stopped in different locations. Still, we peacefully concluded our rally.”
“Three NCP members were injured and six vehicles were damaged in the attack. Had the police been vigilant, the attack could have been prevented," he said. “The Awami League is now acting like a militant organisation. Gopalganj was just the beginning; such attacks may take place in other districts as well,” Islam warned.
“We will go to Gopalganj again. If we remain alive, we will campaign in every village of every upazila of Gopalganj. The flag of the July mass uprising will fly in every household of Gopalganj. Gopalganj will not belong to the ‘Mujibists’, it will belong to Bangladeshis,” he wrote on his verified Facebook page on Thursday, July 17.
Jamaat-e-Islami, a Bangladeshi right-wing led party, also reportedly condemned the attacks and declared a countrywide procession in all the key cities for Thursday.
Meanwhile, the NCP rally continues in the nearby district of Faridpur on Thursday.
