Bangladesh struggles to repair damage from Hasina's 15-year rule
CBC
The chants get louder as hundreds of protesters turn a corner in the central part of Bangladesh's capital, marching and calling for an end to a steep hike in gang activity and violent crime.
It was the second rally in as many weeks where young people poured onto the streets of Dhaka to voice their displeasure at where the country is headed.
"I came to protest the rampant rape cases in the country," Anindita Biswas said at the rally last weekend, after the alleged rape of an eight-year-old girl in western Bangladesh sparked outrage. The young girl has since died, prompting further angry protests.
Outside the offices of Bangladesh's interim government, which was formed after a bloody student-led revolution toppled previous prime minister Sheikh Hasina and ended her 15 years of authoritarian rule, there was yet another protest.
This time, it was a group of people who sustained injuries in the widescale protests last July that were met with a brutal crackdown by security forces before the protesters eventually succeeded in forcing Hasina to flee by helicopter to neighbouring India.
"I need help to get proper treatment for my bullet wound," rickshaw driver Muhammad Yaqub Ali said, showing the scars where a bullet went through his leg.
Each protest has a stark message for the country's interim government, led by 84-year old Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize winner for pioneering microfinancing to help the poor. He returned to Dhaka to lead Bangladesh's transition after last summer's protests, fulfilling a request from the students leading the push for change.
His country had suffered several weeks of turmoil that left more than 1,400 people dead, after police fired at the crowds in an attempt to stifle the unrest.
The violent crackdown from the Hasina government, which had long been accused of corruption and systemic repression of dissent, could amount to crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations. In a report released in February, UN investigators found that up to 13 per cent of those killed were children.
An initial feeling of euphoria and relief that greeted Yunus's appointment has faded seven months later. His government is struggling to get a handle on a rise in lawlessness that is fuelling persistent protests, with the declining security situation worrying many in Bangladesh, along with the slow pace of change.
"I feel sorry for our state," said Mahfuj Alam, one of the leaders of the student protest movement who was later recruited to be part of the interim government as an adviser to Yunus.
Some police officers are refusing to show up for work, he said, leading to more crime and gang activity, which is "enraging people."
Alam told CBC News the expectations that Bangladeshis had for swift change came up against a bureaucratic system that's so entrenched that real reform is nearly impossible.
"All are thinking that the interim government will go within one year. So why should we follow their dictates?" the 27-year old said as he described the intransigence he's seen from the country's political parties, bureaucrats and police officers.
