Members of Ireland’s Bangladeshi community breathed a sigh of relief last week after news broke that the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, had resigned and fled to India following a month of violent unrest.
Hundreds gathered in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, and later in the Red Cow Hotel, to celebrate what many Bangladeshis in Ireland saw as a “victory” and a “second independence” for their native country.
Dr Arman Rahman, assistant professor at UCD’s school of medicine, said he was relieved to see an end to Ms Hasina’s reign but was sad to see the situation the country was in.
“I’m happy that the regime has changed but I’m also sad that these events have taken such a beautiful country, with such potential, back 20 years,” he said. “When everyone else in the world is moving forward with developing of their people and country, why did Bangladesh have to do this?”
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Ms Hasina resigned and fled the country after at least 300 people were killed in a violent police crackdown on demonstrations, which began early last month.
Student protesters took to the streets calling for an end to the country’s quota system, which reserved 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of freedom fighters who fought in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. The protests quickly evolved into wider demonstrations against political corruption, deep inequality and soaring inflation.
Dr Rahman, who has lived in Ireland since 2008, was visiting family in the capital city Dhaka when the protests began. He witnessed, “right in front of my eyes, the police indiscriminately firing ammunition on protesting students”, he said.
“I was staying with my sister and her house is close to one of the places where all this was happening. For seven days we had no internet or cell signal, our phones became a piece of junk, they were no use. They did this so the international media would not see the police brutality. There was a curfew, there was military on the road.”
“We just stayed inside, if you went out for a walk you could be shot accidentally. I was traumatised by what I saw, my kids got psychological trauma, they saw the police firing from our window.”
The family managed to catch a flight and return to Ireland when the curfew was briefly lifted, but Dr Rahman continued following the unrest from afar. He was not surprised when Ms Hasina resigned as “millions were marching towards her residence”.
The country had descended into a “mafia state”, said Dr Rahman. “It had become an autocratic government, it was a single woman running the show for the last 15 years. People were afraid to speak out, you could be jailed for saying something antigovernment.”
Arif Bhuiyan, a chartered accountant who has lived in Ireland for more than a decade, said even Bangladeshis living outside the country were fearful of criticising the government.
“For 10 years we’ve had that fear of writing something on social media, thinking about what might happen to our families back home,” he said. “These last few weeks have been really anxious and nerve wracking for all of us in Ireland. When the internet was shut down, Bangladesh became isolated from the whole world. We felt very helpless as a community, we couldn’t do anything.”
Mr Bhuiyan feels “genuinely happy” that Ms Hasina and her Awami League political party have been removed from power, but is concerned about the transition of power and aftermath of the protests.
Dr Mohammad Jinnuraine Jaigirdar, president of the All Bangladeshi Association of Ireland, says most members of the Irish community are still in shock but also felt “a type of victory” when they heard the news.
Any democracy that existed when Ms Hasina first came to power was destroyed by her “tyrannical regime” and “corruption”, said Dr Jaigirdar who helped organise celebrations in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway.
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“Everyone is celebrating this victory, people are calling it the second independence”, he said. “I think the situation will calm now, I don’t think there will be any more big clashes.”
He said he has complete faith in Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist who has been sworn in as head of Bangladesh’s interim government.
“You want somebody in charge who has not taken a specific side but has worked for the improvement of the country itself,” said Dr Rahman. “He (Muhammad Yunus) has already proven he is capable as an entrepreneur but if you ask is he capable as a ruler, that remains to be seen.”
Mr Bhuiyan is more confident in the interim leader’s abilities. “I trust him, he’s a respected Bangladeshi on the world stage. He may not have the political experience but he has good intentions and good management skills. The political skills will come in time. The youth of Bangladesh have called for him to take power and I support their demands.”