DHAKA: Security forces fired indiscriminately during clashes involving supporters of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina this month, killing at least five people, human rights activists said Friday (July 25).
The clashes erupted in Hasina's hometown of Gopalganj after members of her Awami League party tried to foil a rally by the National Citizens Party (NCP), made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that toppled her government last year.
The Bangladesh-based human rights group Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) said that it had "identified at least two gross violations of constitutional rights".
"The law enforcement agencies fired at civilians indiscriminately, and the right to hold a peaceful assembly was not upheld," Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir, senior coordinator at ASK, told AFP.
Locals in Gopalganj told ASK that clashes erupted soon after NCP concluded its rally, with a crowd throwing bricks at the party members and security personnel.
"Though some carried Molotov cocktails, they were not armed with firearms," ASK said.
Those killed were not part of the demonstrations, the report quoted family members as saying.
The organisation said the military declined to comment on its findings.
The non-profit also said authorities had made "mass arrests during combing operations, including in areas that had not been involved in the clashes, including that of 18 children."
Some of the children were imprisoned under the anti-terrorism law, the report added.
The interim government under Muhammad Yunus has formed an inquiry commission to investigate the violence. - AFP
