Bangladesh detains dozens in Dhaka as anti-Awami League crackdown widens

Bangladesh police on Saturday detained dozens of people suspected of being activists of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, hours after Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said policemen would be rewarded for arresting "associates of fascism". The detentions are part of a wider campaign against leaders and supporters of the now-banned party since Hasina's ouster in August 2024.

The main action was in Dhaka, where police raided the office of the left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASOD), an ally of the Awami League, and detained more than 50 people attending a meeting. Police also said four suspected Awami League activists were detained from Dhanmondi after a group of party supporters staged a flash street march and exploded crude bombs.

Speaking at a police ceremony in the capital as part of Police Week-2026, Ahmed said, "Those who can bring associates of fascism and Awami forces under the law will be rewarded." He added, "They had been hiding here all this time" and asked police to use their intelligence mechanisms to identify and track them down.

Mass-circulation daily Ittefaq and several other newspapers reported that shortly after Ahmed's remarks, police in riot gear raided the JASOD office in central Dhaka's Gulistan area, where several hundred people had gathered. Police said those detained had been chanting "Joy Bangla", a slogan historically associated with the Awami League, during the meeting.

"Joy Bangla", meaning "Victory to Bengal", was a major slogan of the Bengali nationalist movement in the late 1960s and the battle cry of Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War. It was declared the country's national slogan in 2022 when Hasina's Awami League government was in power. In December 2024, the Bangladesh Supreme Court's Appellate Division stayed that status. Since Hasina's ouster, the slogan has widely come to be seen as closely linked to Awami League supporters, who have used it at political gatherings and protests.

Hasina was ousted on August 5, 2024, after weeks of student-led protests that began over a quota system for government jobs and grew into a wider anti-government movement amid a deadly security crackdown. She resigned and fled to India as the government collapsed.

JASOD office secretary Sajjad Hossain told Prothom Alo that around 400 party leaders and activists from across the country had gathered for the party's central representative conference. He alleged that activists of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party first beat meeting participants in the presence of police, and that police later arrived with large prison vans and began detaining them. "No leader or activists could get out. Police is detaining all of them in phases," Hossain said.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Akhtar Hossain told reporters that more than 50 people had been detained from the scene and that the "operation is still underway". He said, "'Joy Bangla' slogan was chanted inside the JASOD office. The detainees are being questioned. Next steps will be taken based on data analysis and information obtained during the interrogations."

According to media reports, law enforcement agencies have in recent days stepped up campaigns and crackdowns against Awami League leaders and activists across Bangladesh as party supporters appeared to be trying to show a street presence through programmes such as flash processions. The Dhaka Tribune recently reported that police were under "increased accountability pressure" after a series of Awami League flash marches, with field-level officials warned they could face punitive action if such activities took place in their areas.

In one recent case, more than 100 Awami League leaders and activists staged a flash march on September 11 in Dhaka's Gulshan area, despite police presence and surveillance. Fifty-two suspected Awami League supporters were later arrested to face charges under the Anti Terrorism Act. Reports also said pressure on police rose after an audio clip of a police officer was leaked on social media, in which he was heard saying the police on the streets were "extremely weak" and alleging high-level corruption. The officer also said police would not be able to stop Hasina if she returned from exile in December, as she had announced. He was later arrested and remanded in police custody on treason charges.

The latest detentions, including the raid on the JASOD office and the arrests in Dhanmondi, underline the continuing crackdown on people suspected of links to the Awami League after Hasina's fall from power.