DHAKA: The Bangladesh military was deployed to the streets to impose an indefinite nationwide curfew on Sunday as protesters clashed with authorities amid a new wave of demonstrations demanding the prime minister’s resignation, which comes weeks after a deadly crackdown.

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Saturday and Sunday, as student leaders launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The fresh protests came after earlier demonstrations in July, which began with students calling for an end to a quota system for government jobs, escalated into violence.

Those nationwide campus rallies were attacked by pro-government groups, leading to clashes with security forces, a week-long communications blackout, a curfew, and more than 200 deaths.

After demonstrators returned to the streets in what appeared to be the biggest numbers yet, Bangladesh’s Interior Ministry said an indefinite nationwide curfew would start at 6 p.m. on Sunday, while internet services were again shut down.  

More than 50 people were killed and scores were injured in the new round of clashes, according to the country’s leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo newspaper, as police fired tear gas and lobbed stun grenades to disperse the tens of thousands of protesters.

Students Against Discrimination, one of the main groups behind the initial protests, has called on “students from all over the country to travel to Dhaka” on Monday.

“The time has come to make the final signature of this student citizen uprising. Come to Dhaka to be a part of history,” Asif Mahmud, a coordinator of the group, said in a statement issued after the curfew was announced.

“Students will create a new Bangladesh.”

While the Supreme Court eventually scrapped most of the quota to open civil service positions to candidates based on merit, the government’s response to the demonstrations last month and the arrest of thousands of people have turned the student-led protests into a public movement, with more groups joining in the last few days, including teachers and TV stars.

“The current situation is best described as a massive popular uprising. It enjoys support from the whole nation, except a few beneficiaries of the regime,” Salimullah Khan, political analyst and professor at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, told Arab News.

“Repressive measures are solely responsible for these mass murders and crimes against humanity. The true conclusion is in the immediate exit of the regime. Dithering will only cost more lives.”

The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by her main opponents, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

“The BNP resolutely supports the students’ demands and pledges and stands by them unwaveringly,” Mohammed Nawshad Zamir, BNP international secretary, told Arab News.

“Therefore, we must persist in our street demonstrations until the illegitimate regime of Sheikh Hasina is ousted and a national government of consensus is established.”

Hasina’s party, the ruling Awami League, said the student-led movement has been “politicized.”

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, an Awami League parliamentarian, told Arab News: “It’s a conspiracy to destroy the country. With the current situation, it has been proved now.

“Our law enforcers are still showing maximum tolerance to the protesters. But they have to understand, it doesn’t mean we are weak.”

Yet efforts to suppress the civil movement in Bangladesh, which included “random and disproportionate use of force by the law-enforcing agencies,” were at a scale “never seen before,” said Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director at Transparency International Bangladesh.

“It’s quite ominous. Unfortunately, we see there is no way out of this situation or light at the end of the tunnel because the use of force to manage the crisis continues,” he told Arab News.

“Authorities ignored the power of the students’ movement, and on the other hand, authorities considered themselves invincible … They failed to realize that the students’ movement is invincible here in the history of Bangladesh.”

MANILA: The Philippines and Germany committed on Sunday to finalizing a defense cooperation agreement this year, saying they strongly opposed expansive claims in the South China Sea amid continued tensions with Beijing in the disputed waters.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was in Manila to meet with his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro Jr. to enhance ties between their countries, which are celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations.

They agreed to establish long-term relations between their armed forces to expand training and bilateral exchanges, explore opportunities to expand armaments partnerships and engage in joint projects.

In a joint statement, the ministers said they “strongly opposed any unilateral attempt to advance expansive claims, especially through force or coercion,” alluding to recent incidents in the South China Sea.  

The Philippines and China have overlapping claims in the strategic waters along with a few other countries, but maritime confrontations between China Coast Guard ships and Philippine vessels have increased in recent months.

In June, Manila said the China Coast Guard rammed and boarded Philippine naval vessels during their resupply mission on the Second Thomas Shoal, part of the contested waters that has become a central flashpoint between the two countries.

“There is only one cause of conflict in the South China Sea … It is China’s illegal and unilateral attempt to appropriate most, if not all, of the South China Sea as their internal waters,” Teodoro said during a press conference.

“The Philippines is not provoking China. We do not seek war, yet we are mandated not only by our constitution but as an obligation to our countrymen to protect whatever areas, whether be jurisdiction or rights, that rightfully belong to the exclusive benefit of Filipinos.”

Manila and Berlin took measures to deepen their military ties just days after the US announced $500 million in military funding to modernize the Philippine army, an ongoing effort that will also see Manila “looking to engage Germany as a possible supplier,” Teodoro said.  

“These are in the command and control, anti-access aerial denial, maritime domain, aerial domain and in higher technologically capable equipment,” he added.

Pistorius, whose visit on Sunday was the first such trip by a German defense minister, underscored his country’s support for the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, which said that Beijing’s claims had no legal basis.

The decision, which was based on the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, was rejected by China.

“This ruling remains valid without any exceptions. It is our obligation to strengthen the maritime order, and we are living up to it,” Pistorius said, adding that countries must contribute to de-escalation efforts by keeping “all channels of communication open,” including with China.

“It is important that we support and protect the rules-based international order in what we’re doing here. Our commitments and engagements here are not directed against anybody but instead, we’re focusing on maintaining the rules-based international order, securing freedom of navigation and protecting trade routes.”

For Manila, stronger defense ties with Germany are “important as a symbol of the Philippines’ growing security network” at the global level, said retired US Air Force Col. Raymond Powell, a director at Sealight, a project based in Stanford University that focuses on maritime transparency.

“It carries fewer material benefits than its relationships with established Indo-Pacific powers like the US, Japan and France, but it is important (in) showing the Philippines as an integral member of a strong global community with significant economic resources and military capabilities,” Powell told Arab News.

Aaron Jed Rabena, a senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines, said strengthening relations with Germany was a strategic move for Manila.

“This is part of the Philippines’ strategy to broaden its web of security partners and get as much defense and political support from them as possible,” he told Arab News.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Germany will soon take part in military exercises and even talk of a VFA (visiting forces agreement) with the Philippines.”