Bangladeshi students hold pro-Palestine rallies

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Students in Bangladesh on Monday marched across campuses, demanding an end to genocide in Gaza and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Also in solidarity with the ongoing student movement, particularly in the US, the students took out rallies holding large Palestinian flags, placards, and banners with slogans like “Free Palestine, stop the genocide.”

The student wing of the ruling Awami League Party, Bangladesh Student League (BSL), organized a march with the participation of Palestinian students studying in Bangladesh on the main Dhaka University campus.

The students strongly criticized the US for its “biased” democracy that allowed police to arrest pro-Palestinian students on the US campuses.

Talking to Anadolu, Rakibul Islam Rupam, a student of Begum Rokeya University in northern Rangpur district, said: “We marched on campuses to show solidarity with fellow students across the campuses in the world.”

Condemning the Israeli oppression, he urged global leaders to join hands for an end to the Israel war on Gaza.

Another student of Jahangirnagar University on the outskirts of Dhak, Sohel Rana, said that Bangladesh's foreign policy supports an independent Palestinian state. “We want the genocide being carried out in Gaza to stop immediately,” he demanded.

“We strongly condemn the arrest of students and teachers and raids on campuses by the US police,” said Tanbir Hasan Saikat, a student leader at Dhaka University.

“Our emotions are attached to the Palestinian people,” he said, adding that the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had strongly supported the Palestinian rights for a sovereign state, and “we are following his (Bangabandhu) legacy.”

Last week, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina criticized the US government and called it “a real misfortune” to listen to lectures on human rights from the US following the police raids on pro-Palestine student protests across the US universities.

The US police have arrested hundreds of students this week as university campus administrators seek to repress pro-Palestinian encampments and protests.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.