Bangladeshis protest over Nobel prize banker ouster

Thousands of Bangladeshis protested on Saturday against the removal of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus from the top post at Grameen Bank, the microlender he founded.

Protesters, mostly Grameen Bank borrowers, held hands to form human chains and carried placards and banners demanding the central bank scrap its order removing Yunus from the post.

"Withdraw the illegal order and restore Muhammad Yunus to his post gracefully and with due honour," a protester said in the northern district of Tangail.

"The decision (to remove him) was awful, and must be scrapped," another said.

Peaceful protests were staged across the country, a day before the High Court is to rule on separate writs filed by Yunus and Grameen Bank directors challenging the legality of the central bank action.

The central bank ordered Yunus, 70, out on the grounds that he had overstayed as head of Grameen operations in violation of the law. The legal retirement age at commercial banks is 60.

Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel peace prize, set up Grameen, which means "village" in Bengali, and had been its managing director since 2000.

Lauded abroad by politicians and financiers, he has been under attack by the government since late 2010, after a Norwegian documentary alleged the bank was dodging taxes.

Yunus has denied any financial irregularities.

Analysts have suggested Yunus's rapid removal may redound on the authorities and hurt the country's international reputation.

His supporters say Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government is trying to discredit him because he once considered setting up a political party to rival her Awami League.

Yunus has criticised politicians including Hasina and her rival, former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, accusing them of corruption, misrule and being apathetic towards democracy.

Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one of the country's two biggest political parties, is out to use the Yunus issue to strengthen its anti-government campaign.

On Saturday, senior BNP leaders termed Yunus's dismissal as an "act of vengeance, intolerance and revenge against one of the country's most celebrated sons".

The United States called for an amicable resolution.

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the committee on foreign relations, has said the international community would keep a close eye on the situation.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters on Friday that actions against Yunus would not harm Bangladesh's foreign relations.

"As an independent, sovereign country Bangladesh reserves the right to act against anyone at fault," she said.

Yunus is to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington next week.