Dhaka: In the most recent demonstration calling for the resignation of the prime minister, Bangladeshi police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse stone-throwing crowds blocking major roads in the capital Dhaka on Saturday.

Since last year, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies have protested repeatedly, calling on Sheikh Hasina to resign and give control of the upcoming elections to a caretaker government.

When police intervened to clear throngs of people who had gathered early in the morning to obstruct traffic on major thoroughfares throughout the city, clashes broke out in a number of locations.

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Faruq Ahmed, a spokesman for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, reported that "some officers were hurt." "We used rubber bullets and tear gas."

Police and protesters engaged in combat at least four different protest locations throughout the city, according to Ahmed.

At one protest location in Dholaikhal, a former neighbourhood that is now home to many auto repair shops, AFP journalists saw protesters retaliate by throwing rocks at riot police and their cars.

Six protesters had been admitted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with injuries, according to Bacchu Mia, a police inspector there.
Goyeshwar Roy and Amanullah Aman, two prominent BNP leaders, were taken into police custody but weren't formally detained, according to Ahmed.

Transport links between the nation's capital and other regions were severely disrupted, with trucks and buses snarled in traffic.

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Bangladesh has been ruled by Hasina's Awami League since 2009, and it has been charged with violating human rights, being corrupt, and edging closer to totalitarianism.
Since the beginning of the year, BNP-led demonstrations have become more frequent, with rallies this month drawing tens of thousands of people to the streets.

Earlier this week, in advance of a rally outside the party's headquarters, police detained at least 500 opposition activists.

The political climate in Bangladesh, where the ruling party controls the legislature and treats it essentially as a rubber stamp, has drawn concern from Western governments.

Tens of thousands of opposition activists are allegedly being detained by her security forces, hundreds are allegedly killed in extrajudicial shootings, and hundreds of leaders and supporters have vanished.

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Washington sanctioned the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) security force and seven of its senior officers in 2021 in response to those alleged rights violations.

After being found guilty of corruption, Khaleda Zia, the leader of the BNP and a former rival of Hasina's, is essentially under house arrest.