DHAKA: Supporters of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party staged violent demonstrations in her hometown of Gopalganj on Sunday, attacking police vehicles and installations amid growing political tensions over her stated plan to return to the country in December.
Hundreds of activists took to the streets, carrying machetes and spears, setting a police armoured personnel carrier on fire and vandalising a police outpost, according to officials and media reports.
The protests come amid renewed tensions over Hasina's proposed return from India, where she has been staying since fleeing Bangladesh in August 2024 after a student-led uprising toppled her government.
Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal in November 2025 for crimes against humanity over her government's crackdown on protesters. She has rejected the charges and the proceedings.
Hasina, 79, has repeatedly said since July that she intends to return to Bangladesh in December and face legal proceedings, despite the death sentence against her.
The Bangladesh government has been seeking her extradition from India under a bilateral treaty. It has also declined a request made by a London-based law firm on Hasina's behalf for a passport to facilitate her return.
Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Saturday that Bangladesh had completed the legal process to secure Hasina's return and that the decision now rested with India.
Bangladesh has also linked progress on Hasina's extradition to a possible visit to India by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, saying her return and that of other fugitives sought by Dhaka would help create a conducive environment for the visit.
India has acknowledged receiving Bangladesh's extradition requests but has not announced a decision.
On Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi that Hasina's extradition was a legal matter and would be dealt with accordingly.
Meanwhile, the demonstrators on Sunday pulled down a monument erected to mark the ouster of Hasina's government on August 5, 2024, and broke through police barricades to enter several roads in Gopalganj town. Many women activists also joined the protests.
"Our movement on the streets will continue until we can bring former prime minister and Bangabandhu's (Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) daughter Sheikh Hasina back to the country," Awami League's Gopalganj district leader Ilyas Haque told a party rally.
The demonstrations followed the setting on fire of two offices of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Tungipara -- Hasina's birthplace in Gopalganj -- by unidentified persons overnight, reports said.
The developments prompted the government to withdraw the district's deputy commissioner and police superintendent.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said law enforcement agencies were determined to prevent sabotage and terrorism.
Authorities also called out platoons of paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to stand by riot police in the Gopalganj district, considered an Awami League stronghold.
The situation in Gopalganj was discussed at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Sunday. The prime minister also met senior party leaders at Parliament, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported.
Quoting BNP leaders familiar with the meeting, the newspaper said Rahman asked party activists to "remain active" on the ground.
"The government will not let the situation spiral out of control," Prothom Alo said, quoting a Home Ministry official.
The official said authorities would monitor the situation and increase the deployment of law enforcement personnel depending on developments.
