Bangladesh students call for nationwide civil disobedience, halt to remittances

Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem last month that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.

Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds hit the streets in huge numbers after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation, heeding a call by student leaders to press the government for more concessions.

“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by government workers, and a halt to overseas remittance payments through banks,” the group’s Asif Mahmud told reporters.

Students are demanding a public apology from Hasina for last month’s violence and the dismissal of several of her ministers.

They have also insisted that the government reopens schools and universities around the country, all of which were closed at the height of the unrest.

Crowds on the street have gone further, insisting Hasina leave office altogether.

“She must go because we don’t need this authoritarian government,” Nijhum Yasmin, 20, told reporters from one of many protests staged around the capital Dhaka on Saturday. “Did we liberate the country to see our brothers and sisters shot dead by this regime?”

The non-cooperation strategy deliberately evokes a historical civil disobedience campaign during Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

That earlier movement was spearheaded by Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s independence leader, and is remembered by Bangladeshis as a part of a proud battle against tyranny.

“Now the tables have turned,” said Illinois State University politics professor Ali Riaz.

“The regime’s foundation has been shaken, the aura of invincibility has disappeared,” he added. “The question is whether Hasina is ready to look