Why Are There Protests in Bangladesh Again?

Bangladesh army personnel stand guard during a curfew following clashes between police and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement activists amid anti-government protests in the Shahbag area of Dhaka on August 5, 2024. (AFP)
Bangladesh army personnel stand guard during a curfew following clashes between police and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement activists amid anti-government protests in the Shahbag area of Dhaka on August 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Why Are There Protests in Bangladesh Again?

Bangladesh army personnel stand guard during a curfew following clashes between police and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement activists amid anti-government protests in the Shahbag area of Dhaka on August 5, 2024. (AFP)
Bangladesh army personnel stand guard during a curfew following clashes between police and Anti-Discrimination Student Movement activists amid anti-government protests in the Shahbag area of Dhaka on August 5, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh is on the boil again with close to 100 people killed on Sunday as protesters, calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation, clashed with security forces and supporters of the ruling party.

Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence touched off by student groups protesting against reserved quotas in government jobs.

Here are details of the new protests and their history:

CALLS FOR HASINA TO STEP DOWN

The "Students Against Discrimination" group, which was at the forefront of last month's job quota protests, is leading the latest demonstrations.

The protests to reform the quota system paused after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on July 21. Protesters, however, returned last week demanding a public apology from Hasina for the violence, restoration of internet connections, reopening of college and university campuses and release of those arrested.

By the weekend, the demonstrations spiraled into a campaign seeking Hasina's ouster as demonstrators demanded justice for people killed last month.

The students' group called for a nationwide non-cooperation movement starting Sunday with a single-point agenda - Hasina must resign.

WHY DO PROTESTERS WANT HASINA'S RESIGNATION?

The protesters blame Hasina's government for the violence during the protests in July. Hasina's critics and rights groups have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, a charge the government denies.

WHAT HAS HASINA SAID RECENTLY?

Hasina, 76, and her government initially said students were not involved in the violence during the quota protests and blamed the Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the clashes and arson.

But after violence erupted again on Sunday, Hasina said that "those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilize the nation".

The students group has declined Hasina's offer for talks to resolve the crisis.

WHAT TRIGGERED THE JOB-QUOTA PROTESTS?

Demonstrations started at university campuses in June after the High Court reinstated a quota system for government jobs, overturning a 2018 decision by Hasina's government to scrap it.

The Supreme Court suspended the high court order after the government's appeal and then dismissed the lower court order last month, directing that 93% of jobs should be open to candidates on merit.

FLAGGING ECONOMY, UNEMPLOYMENT

Experts also attribute the current unrest in Bangladesh to stagnant job growth in the private sector, making public sector jobs, with their accompanying regular wage hikes and privileges, very attractive.

The quotas sparked anger among students grappling with high youth unemployment, as nearly 32 million young people are out of work or education in a population of 170 million.

The flagging economy, once among the world's fastest growing on the back of the country's booming garments sector, has stagnated. Inflation hovers around 10% per annum and dollar reserves are shrinking.

HASINA WINS JANUARY ELECTION

Hasina retained power for a fourth straight term in a January general election boycotted by BNP, which accused her Awami League of trying to legitimize sham elections.

BNP said 10 million party workers were on the run ahead of the election with nearly 25,000 arrested following deadly anti-government protests on Oct. 28. Hasina blamed the BNP for instigating anti-government protests that rocked Dhaka ahead of the election and left at least 10 people dead.



Gazan Twins in Cannes Warn 'Nothing Left' of Homeland

Arab and Tarzan Nasser say their father is still in northern Gaza - AFP
Arab and Tarzan Nasser say their father is still in northern Gaza - AFP
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Gazan Twins in Cannes Warn 'Nothing Left' of Homeland

Arab and Tarzan Nasser say their father is still in northern Gaza - AFP
Arab and Tarzan Nasser say their father is still in northern Gaza - AFP

Twin Gazan filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser said they never thought the title of their new film "Once Upon A Time In Gaza" would have such heartbreaking resonance.

"Right now there is nothing left of Gaza," Tarzan said when it premiered Monday at the Cannes film festival.

Since militants from the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has ravaged large swathes of the Palestinian territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Israel has vowed to "take control of all" the besieged territory of more than two million inhabitants, where United Nations agencies have warned of famine following Israel's implementation of a two-month total blockade.

Aid started to trickle into the Gaza Strip on Monday, following widespread condemnation of the siege.

The Nasser brothers, who left Gaza in 2012, said their new film set in 2007, when Hamas seized control of the strip, explains the lead-up to today's catastrophic war.

"Once Upon A Time In Gaza", which screened in the festival's Un Certain Regard section, follows friends Yahia and Osama as they try to make a little extra cash by selling drugs stuffed into falafel sandwiches.

Using a manual meat grinder that does not rely on rare electricity, student Yahia blends up fava beans and fresh herbs to make the patty-shaped fritters in the back of Osama's small run-down eatery, while dreaming of being able to leave the Israeli-blockaded coastal strip.

Charismatic hustler Osama meanwhile visits pharmacy after pharmacy to amass as many pills as he can with stolen prescriptions, pursued by a corrupt cop.

-'Human beings'-

Israel first imposed a blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after militants there took one of its soldiers, and reinforced it in September 2007 several months after Hamas took power.

"The blockade was gradually tightened, tightened until reaching the genocide we see today," Tarzan said.

"Until today they are counting the calories that enter," he added.

An Israeli NGO said in 2012 that documents showed Israeli authorities had calculated that 2,279 calories per person per day was deemed sufficient to prevent malnutrition in Gaza.

The defense ministry however claimed it had "never counted calories" when allowing aid in.

Despite all this, Gazans have always shown a love of life and been incredibly resilient, the directors said.

"My father is until now in northern Gaza," Tarzan said, adding that the family's two homes had been destroyed.

But before then, "every time a missile hit, damaging a wall or window, he'd fix it up the next day", he said.

In films, "the last thing I want to do is talk about Israel and what it's doing", he added.

"Human beings are more important -- who they are, how they're living and adapting to this really tough reality."

In their previous films, the Nasser twins followed an elderly fisherman enamoured with his neighbour in the market in "Gaza Mon Amour" and filmed women trapped at a hairdresser's in "Degrade" from 2015.

Like "Once Upon A Time in Gaza", they were all shot in Jordan.

- 'Gaza was a riviera' -

As the siege takes its toll in "Once Upon A Time In Gaza", a desolate Yahia is recruited to star in a Hamas propaganda film.

In Gaza, "we don't have special effects but we do have live bullets", the producer says in one scene.

"Once Upon A Time In Gaza" has received good reviews, with Screen Daily saying the "taut, succinct film should win widespread attention".

Arab said that long before Gazan tap water became salty and US President Donald Trump sparked controversy by saying he wanted to turn their land into the "Riviera of the Middle East", the coastal strip was a happy place.

"I remember when I was little, Gaza actually was a riviera. It was the most beautiful place. I can still taste the fresh water on my tongue," he said.

"Now Trump comes up with this great invention that he wants to turn it into a riviera, after Israel completely destroyed it?"

Gaza health authorities said at least 44 people were killed there in the early hours of Tuesday.