Why fresh protests have erupted in Bangladesh, months after ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s ouster?

Fresh protests have erupted in Bangladesh (Image: Screengrab/X)

Protests have once again begun in Bangladesh months after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled from the country. The protestors this time are demanding the removal of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

-Hundreds of demonstrators attempted to storm the presidential palace on Tuesday, calling for President Mohammed Shahabuddin to step down. The protests were sparked by the remarks he had made about former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

-In an interview with Bangla daily Manab Zamin last week, Shahabuddin said he did not have any documentary evidence of Hasina resigning as Prime Minister before she fled the country on August 5 amidst student-led mass protests.

-Footage from the scene showed demonstrators clashing with the police, who were attempting to prevent them from entering the Bangabhaban (presidential palace). When police used sound grenades to disperse the crowd, army personnel stepped in and escorted police officers into the palace grounds.

-According to the Bangladeshi daily The Business Standard, hospital sources reported that two individuals sustained gunshot injuries when security forces fired shots to contain protesters from breaking the barricades of the presidential palace. It said a third person was wounded by a sound grenade used to create a sound explosion to disperse violent mobs.

-The student group, known as the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, rallied in front of Central Shaheed Minar demanding the resignation of the President. The protesters issued a five-point list of demands, which included abolishing Bangladesh's 1972 Constitution. They gave a seven-day ultimatum for President Shahabuddin to resign from his position.

-“Our first point (of the five-point demand) is immediate scrapping of the 'pro-Mujb (Bangladesh’s founding leader) 1972 Constitution' which kept Chuppu (president’s nickname) in office,” one of the coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement Hasnat Abdullah was quoted as saying by PTI. He said the protestors would "return to the streets with full force" if the government failed to meet the demands by this week.

-In his previous address to the nation on August 5, Shahabuddin said that Hasina tendered her resignation letter to the president and that he received it. Asif Nazrul, the country’s law adviser, recently accused Shahabuddin of spreading falsehoods and questioned if he was fit to remain in office as head of state.

-Bangladesh's constitution requires Prime Minister to submit his/her written resignation to the President. Following Sheikh Hasina's fourth consecutive victory as Prime Minister in January's election, parliament appointed Mohammed Shahabuddin as President.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, became Bangladesh's interim government's Chief Adviser on August 8 after Prime Minister Hasina fled to India on August 5. Her resignation came after protests erupted in Bangladesh demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs.