Before elections, a banned Bangladeshi party resorts to flash protests.

The Awami League, which was formerly the biggest political party in Bangladesh, has been banned since Sheikh Hasina, its leader, was deposed in a large-scale rebellion last year.

Now, as the nation gets ready for elections from which the party is prohibited, its followers are violating the ban by holding flash mob protests, inspired by Hasina’s demands on social media to “resist”.

Mohammad Kashem, a 45-year-old cleaner in the capital Dhaka, reported seeing about 25 Awami League supporters being chased, assaulted, and arrested by police at one such rally.

“It’s happening all over Dhaka,” Kashem told AFP, adding that social media is constantly posting recordings of these impromptu protests.

“We see it every day on Facebook.”

The elections, which are anticipated to take place in February 2026, will be the first since Hasina’s 15-year tenure came to an end when protestors stormed her palace and she fled into exile in India.

She has now disregarded court demands to appear at her current trial for allegedly orchestrating a lethal crackdown during the uprising, which carries allegations of crimes against humanity.

Since then, her party and its members have been forced underground.

According to officials, more than 800 people have been jailed in relation to the flash mobs, which have rocked Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus’s interim government as he leads the 170 million-person South Asian country until the elections.

“Abandoned”

Nevertheless, they object.

There are gatherings where only a few young males show up. Others yell slogans as they draw over 100.

They cry, “Sheikh Hasina is coming!” while displaying banners or little posters. “Bangladesh is smiling!”

They congregate for a short while before disappearing into the throng.

In relation to flash mob protests organised by supporters of the outlawed Awami League, over 800 people have been arrested.

Occasionally, several flash protests break out in various locations throughout Dhaka at the same time. According to authorities, 244 persons were arrested by police in a single day.

There are a lot of risks. Several demonstrators were severely beaten during the gathering that Kashem attended.

“Stupid boys,” remarks Kashem. “The heavyweight leaders abandoned them… yet they’re risking their lives.”

Yunus’s government is uneasy about the protests.

According to Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam, “the fascists have turned reckless, as they can see that the country is heading towards an election and the trial process (of Hasina) is progressing fast,” reports said last month.

“The government has decided to strengthen the monitoring of flash processions and other illegal gatherings.”

Hasina continues to be outspoken on social media, calling on supporters to “resist” and making broadsides against Yunus.

A top party leader in hiding was quoted by Bangladeshi newspapers as saying that there had been at least 20 flash processions in the previous month.

Md. Talebur Rahman, a spokesman for the Dhaka police, stated that “more than 800 people” had been arrested in relation to the protests, although he was unable to confirm the exact figure.

Zahed Ur Rahman, a political analyst and member of the government’s election reform panel, claimed that Hasina was jeopardising the safety of demonstrators in order to stay relevant.

“She is trying to earn sympathy by widely sharing the beatings, chases, dispersals and arrests of her party members,” Zahed told the AFP news agency.

“Proper action”

The “draconian” prohibition on the Awami League has been denounced by Human Rights Watch.

“The interim government should not be engaging in the same partisan behaviour that Bangladeshis had to endure under Sheikh Hasina, whether it is stuffing the prisons with political opponents or shutting down peaceful dissent,” Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch said.

However, experts warn that the demonstrations may make election preparations more difficult.

The “defeated axis” was one of the “different interest groups” attempting to sabotage the election, according to Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam.

A legal investigation of the Awami League is currently in progress, according to Tajul Islam, top prosecutor in Hasina’s prosecution in absentia.

“Once the investigation report is ready, proper action will be taken,” Islam stated.

Defiant, the Awami League is.

“I take pleasure in the trouble they have caused,” he told AFP.

“Have you noticed how these activities have robbed the government of sleep?”