Bangladesh police association declares strike

Bangladesh’s key police association on Tuesday said its members were going on strike, a day after the protests they had sought to crush with deadly force toppled the prime minister.

“Until the security of every member of the police is secured, we are declaring a strike,” the Bangladesh Police Association, which represents thousands of police officers, said in a statement, which also offered an apology for police actions against the protesters.

Bangladesh army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced Monday afternoon on state television that prime minister Sheikh Hasina had resigned and the military would form an interim government.

Hasina, 76, had been in power since 2009 but was accused of rigging elections in January and then watched millions of people take to the streets over the past month demanding she quit.

Hundreds of people died as security forces sought to quell the unrest, but the protests grew, and Hasina finally fled Bangladesh aboard a helicopter on Monday as the military turned against her.

But the police had largely remained loyal, and said they had faced revenge attacks by protesters after more than a month of violence in which at least 413 people were killed, including several policemen.

“We beg an apology for what the police force has done to the innocent students,” the Bangladesh Police Association statement said.

It argued its officers had been “forced to open fire”, and that they had been cast as the “villain.”