DHAKA: Bangladeshi police on Monday resumed patrols in the capital, ending a weeklong strike that left a law and order vacuum following the abrupt ouster of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.
Officers had vanished from the streets of the sprawling megacity, home to 20 million people, last week after Hasina’s resignation and flight abroad ended her 15-year rule.
The police were widely criticized for leading a lethal crackdown on the weeks of protests that forced her departure, resulting in the deaths of 42 officers among the more than 450 people killed.
Police had vowed not to resume work until their safety on duty was guaranteed. However, they agreed to return after late-night talks with the new interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. “The police association ended its strike last night,” stated the force’s national spokesman, Enamul Haque Sagor. “Police officers have returned to work today. You can see them managing traffic in Dhaka’s streets.”
Student-led protests against Hasina’s government had been largely peaceful until the police attempted to violently disperse them. Approximately 450 of the country’s 600 police stations were targeted in arson and vandalism attacks over the past month, according to the national police union.
Some stations began reopening late last week, guarded by the army—an institution held in higher esteem for largely refusing to participate in the crackdown.
In the absence of the police, students who led the protests that toppled Hasina volunteered to restore law and order, acting as traffic wardens, forming overnight neighborhood watch patrols, and guarding Hindu temples and other places of worship after looting and reprisal attacks in the hours following her departure. This initiative quickly settled the unrest.
The “council of advisors,” Yunus’s de facto cabinet now administering the country, expressed “grave concern” over some attacks on Hindus and other minorities. In its first official statement on Sunday night, the cabinet pledged to find ways to resolve such heinous attacks.
