Bangladesh is facing a fresh bout of violence as members of a student protest movement that toppled the authoritarian government of Sheikh Hasina in August clashed again with her supporters, highlighting the fragility of a country struggling to rebuild itself.
The violence started on Wednesday, after the Awami League, the political party of Ms. Hasina, the former prime minister, said that she would address the students and citizens of Bangladesh via audio from India, where she has been based since her Aug. 5 ouster. Student protesters said the virtual speech would instigate violence. Thousands of students then bulldozed and set fire to a museum that had once been the residence of Ms. Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a founder of Bangladesh.
Clashes between student protesters and supporters of the Awami League lasted three days before the interim government led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus instituted “Operation Devil Hunt,” bringing in Bangladesh police and paramilitary forces on Saturday to crack down on sympathizers. The Awami League has threatened to protest against the students’ actions.
After Ms. Hasina’s live speech in which she reminded Bangladeshis of the sacrifices her father had made and how the country had flourished during her tenure, protesters and Awami League supporters in the Dhaka area began attacking one another. Mr. Yunus began the police operation on Feb. 8, after reports of spiraling violence and injuries.
“The government is urging all the citizens to abide by the law,” Mr. Yunus said in a statement. “The new Bangladesh we are working together to build, moving away from the old Bangladesh under fascist rule, will be distinguished by following the rule of law.”
Officials said more than 1,300 people had been arrested since the latest round of violence erupted — mostly from the Awami League — and things were calm for now. Although the interim government has sought to ban Ms. Hasina’s party, the Awami League is trying to reassert itself. Members recently called for protests and strikes this month. They have tried to tag student groups as Islamist militants, comparing them to supporters of Pakistan during Bangladesh’s war of independence from it.
The recent descent into violence in Bangladesh threatens to destabilize the effort by university students to build a new democracy with free and fair elections, calling for a Constitution immune to manipulation and governance without corruption. What started as a revolt in July against a system of reserving jobs for the descendants of freedom fighters erupted into widespread anger at Ms. Hasina, who had become increasingly authoritarian during her 15-year rule.
More than 800 people died during the student revolution last summer, according to officials. To avenge their deaths, the Yunus government has repeatedly sought Ms. Hasina’s extradition from India to be tried for crimes against humanity. India has yet to provide a response.
Ms. Hasina has participated in Awami League meetings virtually, according to videos posted on Facebook and other clips of her speeches. But her first public address was on Feb. 5.
The day after Ms. Hasina’s audio broadcast, the Yunus government said in a statement that she had “insulted and disrespected” those who had given their lives in last summer’s uprising. “Despite the fact that she fled the country, she continues to use the same tone of threats, as she used to when she was in power through corruption, terror and inhuman repression,” the statement read.