DHAKA, Bangladesh: Thousands of people protested peacefully in Bangladesh’s capital Saturday to demand justice for more than 200 students and others killed during protests last month, but violence was reported at similar events elsewhere in the country.
The protesters chanted anti-government slogans and demanded the resignation of the prime minister as the wave of protest widened beyond students to include people from many walks of life. Some pro-government groups also rallied in the city.
The country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper reported that at least seven protesters were hit by bullets after pro-ruling party groups allegedly opened fire on them as they blocked a road in Cumilla, in the east of Bangladesh. The daily said at least 30 protesters were injured during the violence, but a local leader of the ruling party denied allegations that their supporters attacked the protesters.
Scores of people were injured in other parts of the country, TV stations reported.
The students’ protests last month began with the demand for an end to a quota system for government jobs that they said was discriminatory. Under it, 30 percent of such jobs were reserved for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
The protests began peacefully, but turned violent as students at Dhaka University clashed with police and the activists of a student wing of the ruling Awami League party on July 15. Since then, more than 200 people have died and thousands of others have been injured.
The Supreme Court cut the veterans’ quota to 5 percent on July 21, but protests have continued to spread amid outrage over the violence. Authorities closed schools and universities across the country, blocked Internet access and imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew. At least, 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks.
Internet service has been restored and banks and offices have reopened, but tensions remain high.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday offered to talk with student leaders, but a coordinator refused in a Facebook post.
Nahid Islam, a leading protest coordinator, wrote: “One cannot ask a killer government for justice or sit for talks with them. The time to ask forgiveness has passed. When there was still time, the government conducted block raids to arrest and torture students.”
Hasina reiterated her pledges to thoroughly investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said that her doors were open for the talks and she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters want.
Also on Saturday, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman, the country’s military chief, directed army officers to safeguard public safety and secure key state installations under all circumstances, the army’s public relations office said in a statement.
The army chief also discussed the current security situation in the country with the officers, it said.
The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by her main opponents.
The students had earlier made a nine-point demand, including a public apology from Hasina and release of all the students arrested and jailed. On Saturday, however, they announced they had a single demand — the resignation of Hasina and her administration. They also called for a “non-cooperation” movement from Sunday and urged people not to pay taxes or utility bills and to keep factories and offices closed.
The general secretary of Hasina’s ruling party said Saturday that it was calling on its supporters to demonstrate across the country on Sunday.
Hasina and other Cabinet ministers had earlier blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and now-banned right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing for intruding into the student protests and committing violence. Both the parties have denied the allegations.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said Saturday that they would continue to support the protesters in their movement.
Protests, violence break out again in Bangladesh amid calls for government’s resignation
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Protests, violence break out again in Bangladesh amid calls for government’s resignation
- Students protest against quota system for government jobs claimed at least 200 lives last month
- Internet services have been restored and banks reopen in parts of country but tensions remain high
Probe launched after German police officer punches pro-Palestine activist
- Kitty O’Brien hit twice before being dragged away, reportedly suffering broken arm, nerve damage
- Irish ambassador raises ‘concern’ with German government, protests held in Dublin
LONDON: An investigation has been launched after a German police officer was filmed punching an Irish activist in the face at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Berlin on Thursday, The Guardian reported.
Activist Kitty O’Brien was hit twice by the officer before being dragged away with a bloodied face, footage uploaded to social media showed.
O’Brien, who was reported to have suffered a broken arm by local newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, reportedly swore at police and was filmed calling the officer a Nazi before the incident took place.
“We as the Berlin police are reviewing whether the officer acted proportionately, and we’re doing it as part of a criminal investigation on suspicion of bodily harm on duty,” a spokesperson said. O’Brien is being investigated for insulting officers and resisting arrest, the police said.
The incident sparked criticism in O’Brien’s homeland, with Maeve Collins, the Irish ambassador to Germany, conveying her “concern” to the German government, the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs said. Protests were held outside the German Embassy in Dublin on Saturday.
Zoe Lawlor, chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “They had to take it seriously. It was two very violent assaults … It’s shocking. The German police are just horrendous when it comes to Palestine activism.”
Lawlor added that O’Brien’s injury means the activist will be unable to work for a period, and that a fundraiser has been launched.
O’Brien’s aunt Catherine Stocker, a Social Democrat councillor, said the activist had suffered nerve damage in the broken arm.
“What you have here is a bunch of mostly young Irish people standing up for international law and standing up for the people of Gaza and Palestine, which has effectively been made illegal to do in Berlin at this stage,” Stocker told Irish broadcaster RTE.
The Berlin police said its officers were responding to an unauthorized “gathering in the context of the Middle East conflict” in the Hackescher Markt area of the capital.
They added that protesters — including members of a group called Irish Bloc Berlin, which organized the event — were “verbally aggressive” and chanted “criminal, prohibited slogans” while marching through the area.
“As there was no apparent leader of the gathering, the crowd was ordered to disperse,” the police said in a statement. “During the operation, there were insults, physical attacks and acts of resistance against police officers.”
The police arrested 94 people at the protest, with media reports that chants of “Yallah, yallah, intifada” and “From the river to the sea” were heard.
Criminal investigations have been opened into 96 people in total, including for “using symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations, attacks on law enforcement officers, insulting behavior and bodily harm.”
Israeli president to meet Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday
ROME: Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to the Vatican on Thursday to meet Pope Leo, who has recently stepped up his calls for an end to the war in Gaza.
The one-day visit is being made at the invitation of the pope, Herzog’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The president will also meet Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s chief diplomat, and tour the Vatican Archives and Library, it added.
“Central to their meetings will be the efforts to secure the release of the hostages, the fight against global antisemitism, and the safeguarding of Christian communities in the Middle East, alongside discussions on other political matters,” the presidency said.
Leo, the first US pope, last week issued a “strong appeal” for an to end to the nearly two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas, calling for a permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages held in Gaza and the provision of humanitarian aid.
Extreme summer heat a ‘turning point’: French minister
- The summer of 2025 was France’s third hottest since the country’s weather agency Meteo France began measuring temperatures in 1900
PARIS: This year’s punishing back-to-back heatwaves and ferocious wildfires in France were a “taste of what’s to come,” as climate change pushed summer temperatures to near record highs, the country’s environment minister warned Tuesday.
Swathes of Europe have suffered deadly heatwaves, withering drought and vast forest fires in recent months, while countries across the world have recorded historic temperature spikes.
“We all know that the summer we are experiencing is in many ways a turning point,” said France’s Minister for Ecological Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
“It’s a taste of what’s to come, unfortunately, because heatwaves will be more frequent and more intense in the coming years,” she said at a press conference.
The summer of 2025 was France’s third hottest since the country’s weather agency Meteo France began measuring temperatures in 1900. It ranked second in terms of the number of heatwave days.
The country has also suffered devastating fires, with one that raged in the Mediterranean region seen as the worst blaze in at least half a century, according to government data on area burned.
EU says sending aid after earthquake in Afghanistan
- The United Nations has warned that the quake could impact “hundreds of thousands” and warned of an “exponential” rise in casualties
- The EU said that it was flying in the aid including tents, clothes and medical items on two special flights scheduled to arrive in Kabul this week
BRUSSELS: The European Union said on Tuesday it was sending 130 tons of emergency supplies and unlocking one million euros to help victims of the deadly earthquake that hit Afghanistan.
More than 1,400 people are known to have been killed and thousands injured in the 6.0-magnitude earthquake, which hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan at around midnight on Sunday, followed by at least five aftershocks.
The United Nations has warned that the quake could impact “hundreds of thousands” and warned of an “exponential” rise in casualties.
The EU said that it was flying in the aid — including tents, clothes and medical items — on two special flights scheduled to arrive in Kabul this week.
The new aid comes on top of some 160 million euros ($185 million) in aid the EU has allocated to humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan this year.
After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.
It faces a protracted humanitarian crisis and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbors Pakistan and Iran in recent years.
The EU has carefully calibrated its engagement with the country since the Taliban swept back into power in 2021 to avoid having too close ties to the authorities.
UN says Afghan quake could impact ‘hundreds of thousands’
- More than 900 people are known to have been killed and thousands injured in the 6.0-magnitude earthquake, which hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan around midnight Sunday, followed by at least five aftershocks
GENEVA: The UN on Tuesday said the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan that has killed more than 900 people could impact “hundreds of thousands,” and warned of an “exponential” rise in casualties.
“We think potentially the impacted individuals would go up to almost into the hundreds of thousands,” Indrika Ratwatte, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Kabul.
Already, more than 900 people are known to have been killed and thousands injured in the 6.0-magnitude earthquake, which hit remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan around midnight Sunday, followed by at least five aftershocks.
“The numbers are definitely going to increase,” Ratwatte said, adding there was “no question that the casualty rate is going to be rather exponential.”
The earthquake’s epicenter was about 27 kilometers (17 miles) from the city of Jalalabad, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), which said it struck around eight kilometers below the Earth’s surface.
Such relatively shallow quakes can cause more damage, especially since the majority of Afghans live in low-rise, mud-brick homes vulnerable to collapse.
Ratwatte said homes in the affected region were largely “mud and wooden roof structures, so when the walls collapse the roof is what basically for the individuals kills them or suffocates them.”
“It’s a low (population) density, but since this happened in the night, everybody was sleeping so I think (the casualty figure) is going to be much higher.”
He added that the quake had set off “lots of landslides, rockfalls, etc., and access has been very limited. This has posed a huge challenge.”
“The biggest challenge is to reach these remote areas with the road access extremely damaged,” he said, stressing the need for helicopters to reach those in need, evacuate the injured and deploy search and rescue and medical teams.
After decades of conflict, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, facing a protracted humanitarian crisis and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back to the country by neighbors Pakistan and Iran in recent years.
Ratwatte urged countries to show solidarity with the people of Afghanistan “facing multiple crises, multiple shocks.”
He lamented that an appeal for $2.8 billion to provide desperately needed aid to Afghans this year was so far only 28-percent funded.
