Bangaldesh interim govt says won’t allow ‘fascist’ Awami League to hold rally – Times of India

The interim government of Bangladesh has announced it will not allow the deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League to hold its planned rally on Sunday, labelling the party as “fascist.”
In a statement shared on Facebook, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam on Saturday stated the government’s intent to prevent any disorder, saying, “The Awami League in its current form is a fascist party. There is no way this fascist party will be allowed to hold protests in Bangladesh.”
Alam further warned that “anyone who would try to hold rally, gathering and processions by taking orders from the mass murderer and dictator Sheikh Hasina will face full force of the law enforcing agencies.”

The announcement comes after the Awami League, through its official Facebook page, called on supporters to gather at Dhaka’s Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar, or Zero Point, to protest “misrule.”
The party’s message described their rally as standing against “the deprivation of the rights of the people,” the rise of fundamentalist forces, and conspiracies affecting citizens’ daily lives. This marks the Awami League’s first rally call since August 5, when Hasina fled to India amid mass student protests.
The interim government recently banned the Awami League’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, over its alleged “fascist role” during the July-August Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, which began as a job quota reform campaign and escalated into mass protests that ultimately toppled Hasina’s government.
Although there have been calls for a complete ban on the Awami League, Yunus suggested that such decisions are for political parties to make. Some members of the interim government oppose the idea, citing the need for political inclusivity. Hasina’s main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, also opposed banning any political group.