Awami League supporters attacked police vehicles and installations during protests in Bangladesh's Gopalganj. The unrest deepened tensions over Sheikh Hasina's planned return and pending extradition from India.Sheikh Hasina has been living in India since 2024 after fleeing Bangladesh following a violent student-led uprising targetting her government.
Supporters of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League staged violent demonstrations in her hometown of Gopalganj on Sunday, attacking police vehicles and installations as tensions escalated over her proposed return to the country in December, PTI reported.VIOLENT PROTESTS IN HASINA'S HOMETOWNHundreds of protesters took to the streets armed with machetes and spears, setting a police armoured personnel carrier on fire and vandalising a police outpost, according to officials and media reports. Demonstrators also broke through police barricades, blocked roads and pulled down a monument marking the fall of Hasina's government on August 5, 2024.
Several women activists also joined the protests."Our movement on the streets will continue until we can bring former prime minister and Bangabandhu's (Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) daughter Sheikh Hasina back to the country," Awami League's Gopalganj district leader Ilyas Haque told a party rally.HASINA'S PROPOSED RETURN, EXTRADITION ROWThe demonstrations come amid renewed political tensions over Hasina's stated plan to return from India, where she has been staying since fleeing Bangladesh in August 2024 following a student-led uprising that toppled her government. Hasina, 79, was sentenced to death in absentia by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal in November 2025 for crimes against humanity over her government's crackdown on protesters.
She has rejected the charges and the proceedings.The former prime minister has repeatedly said since July that she intends to return to Bangladesh in December and face legal proceedings despite the death sentence. Bangladesh has been seeking her extradition from India under a bilateral treaty.
Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Saturday that Dhaka had completed the legal process to secure her return and that the decision now rested with New Delhi.India has acknowledged receiving Bangladesh's extradition requests but has not announced a decision. On Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Hasina's extradition was a legal matter and would be dealt with accordingly.Bangladesh has also linked progress on Hasina's extradition to a possible visit to India by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, saying the return of Hasina and other fugitives sought by Dhaka would help create a conducive environment for the visit.BNP OFFICES TORCHED, OFFICIALS REMOVEDMeanwhile, tensions in Gopalganj had escalated after unidentified persons allegedly set fire to two offices of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Tungipara, Hasina's birthplace, overnight.In response to the violence, the government withdrew the district's deputy commissioner and police superintendent.
Authorities also deployed platoons of the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to support riot police in the district, considered an Awami League stronghold.Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said law enforcement agencies were determined to prevent sabotage and terrorism.TARIQUE RAHMAN REVIEWS SECURITY SITUATIONThe situation was discussed at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Sunday. The prime minister also met senior party leaders at Parliament, according to the Prothom Alo newspaper.Quoting BNP leaders familiar with the meeting, the newspaper reported that Rahman had asked party activists to "remain active" on the ground."The government will not let the situation spiral out of control," the newspaper quoted a Home Ministry official as saying, adding that authorities would monitor developments and increase security deployments if required.- Ends