Clashes break out near Bangladesh parliament as major parties sign a roadmap for change

Audio By Carbonatix

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Major political parties in Bangladesh signed a roadmap Friday for political reforms proposed by the interim government while police clashed with protesters who wanted the document to include more provisions for the activists who helped oust the previous government.

Police officers fired tear gas and used stun grenades and batons to disperse several hundred protesters outside the national Parliament building in the capital Dhaka. Some of them clashed with police while others vandalized a police vehicle. Witnesses said several people were injured in the clashes.

The protesters described themselves as part of the movement that led to the ouster in August 2024 of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following a 15-year rule that critics said had become increasingly autocratic. The protesters said they were seeking more guarantees of welfare and other programs for participants in the 2024 movement.

The interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, invited the country’s main political parties to sign the new political charter Friday to pave the way for a raft of political reforms, though the groups did not include Hasina's Awami League, formerly a major political force that has been banned under the interim government.

The document, named the “July National Charter” after the national uprising that began in July 2024, is nonbinding and the proposals for constitutional and legal changes must be approved by a new Parliament after elections, which Yunus has promised for next February.

The roadmap's provisions would include bringing more checks and balances to the country's political system to avoid authoritarian administrations, including by giving the presidency more authority to balance what had been a powerful prime minister position. It also proposes term limits for legislators, and measures to prevent conflicts of interest, money laundering and corruption.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and eight like-minded parties signed the charter, as well as sixteen others, including smaller Islamist parties. The country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, was initially undecided, but later agreed to sign the charter. Four left-wing parties and a newly-formed student-led party, National Citizen Party, did not take part.

Yunus told the audience gathered outside the parliament building that the signings meant a new Bangladesh was taking shape.

“We have entered into a civilized society from barbarism,” he said.

A National Consensus Commission formed by Yunus’ government prepared the charter after a series of talks with 30 political parties. According to the Election Commission, the country has 51 registered political parties.

Hasina, who was toppled last August after huge protests, is in exile in India and is being tried in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity. The United Nations has said that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the weekslong uprising last year.

Yunus has promised to hold the next national election in February. But questions remain whether the election would be inclusive without Hasina’s party and its allies in the race.