Bangladesh launches crackdown on ex-regime loyalists

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Sunday launched a major security operation after protesters were attacked by gangs allegedly connected to the ousted regime of ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.

A government statement said the operation began after gangs “linked to the fallen autocratic regime attacked a group of students, leaving them severely injured”.

Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, head of the interior ministry in the interim government that took over after Hasina was ousted in the August 2024 student-led revolution, has dubbed it “Operation Devil Hunt”.

“It will continue until we uproot the devils,” Chowdhury told reporters.

The sweeping security operations come after days of unrest.

On Wednesday, six months to the day since Hasina fled as crowds stormed her palace in Dhaka, protesters smashed down buildings connected to her family using excavators.

Protests were triggered in response to reports that 77-year-old Hasina -- who has defied an arrest warrant to face trial crimes against humanity -- would appear in a Facebook broadcast from exile in neighbouring India.

Buildings destroyed included the museum and former home of Hasina’s late father, Bangladesh’s first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The interim government blamed Hasina for the violence.

On Friday, interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus also pleaded for calm. “Respecting the rule of law is what differentiates the new Bangladesh we are working together to build, from the old Bangladesh under the fascist regime,” Yunus said in a statement.

“For the citizens who rose up and overthrew the Hasina regime ... it is imperative to prove to ourselves and our friends around the world that our commitment to our principles -- respecting one another’s civil and human rights and acting under the law -- is unshakable.”

Hours later, members of the Students Against Discrimination -- the protest group credited with sparking the uprising against Hasina -- were attacked in the Dhaka district of Gazipur. The vocal and powerful group -- whose members are in the government cabinet -- had since demanded action.