Bangladesh arrests hundreds ahead of opposition protest

Bangladesh: Police arrest 1,500+ opposition activists ahead of major rally; BNP expects "more than a million" to turn out. Western govts express concern over ruling Awami League's dominance, alleged rights abuses by security forces. RAB officers sanctioned by U.S. in 2021.

Hundreds of Bangladeshi opposition activists have been arrested, police and party officials said Friday, ahead of a major rally where campaigners hope more than a million people will take to the streets of Dhaka.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its leftist allies, along with several Islamist outfits, have been mounting protests demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina quit and let a neutral government oversee elections due by the end of January.

Hasina — daughter of the country's founding leader — has been in power for 15 years and has overseen rapid economic growth with Bangladesh overtaking neighbouring India in GDP per capita, but her government is accused of corruption and human rights abuses.

The BNP has called a "grand rally" for Saturday, with party spokesman Zahir Uddin Swapan saying it expects "more than a million people" to turn out.

"A sea of people will join the protest," he told AFP.

He said police had arrested at least 1,500 people including several senior BNP officials in the past four days in an effort to disrupt preparations.

"They have raided door to door and arrested people while they were holding meeting indoors," he said.