Bangladesh’s main police association has announced that its members were initiating a strike. This decision followed the previous day’s protests, which the police had violently attempted to suppress, ultimately resulting in the prime minister’s downfall.
“We are declaring a strike until the security of every police member is ensured.” Bangladesh Police Association, representing thousands of officers, stated.
They also issued an apology for the police actions against the protesters.
On Monday afternoon, Bangladesh army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman revealed on state television that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned and that the military would form an interim government.
Hasina, 76, who had been in power since 2009, faced accusations of election rigging in January and witnessed millions of people protesting for her resignation over the past month. The security forces’ attempts to quell the unrest resulted in hundreds of deaths, but the protests persisted, and Hasina eventually fled the country by helicopter on Monday as the military abandoned her.
Despite this, the police had largely remained loyal to the government and reported facing retaliatory attacks from protesters after more than a month of violence, which claimed the lives of at least 413 people, including several police officers.
The Bangladesh Police Association’s statement included an apology for the police force’s actions against innocent students. They argued that their officers had been “forced to open fire” and felt unfairly portrayed as the “villain.”