According to Emirates News Agency (WAM), the United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday that it has detained a number of expats from Bangladesh for demonstrating against their home country “in several streets across the UAE on Friday.”
Dr. Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, the attorney general of the UAE, issued an urgent investigative order.
As per the official statement, the accused are charged with “assembling in a public area and demonstrating against their native government with the aim to provoke turmoil, hinder the implementation of rules and laws, disturb personal affairs, endanger and injure others, infringe upon their rights, interfere with traffic, and inflict harm on both public and private property.”
In addition, the demonstrators are said to have called for and incited the rallies, purposefully disrupted transportation, and recorded and distributed audiovisual material of the protest online—all offenses that are illegal in the United Arab Emirates.
The WAM statement said, “[The acts] constitute offenses against state security and public order, and jeopardize the UAE’s interests.”
The suspects are to be sent to an expedited trial, per the directive of the UAE Attorney General.
Bangladesh’s current state
Marches that have taken place almost every day in Bangladesh this month have demanded the removal of a quota system that reserves over half of civil service positions for particular groups, such as the offspring of veterans of the nation’s 1971 liberation struggle against Pakistan.
On Saturday, riot police opened fire on demonstrators who disobeyed a government curfew as soldiers patrolled Bangladeshi cities in an effort to contain the increasing civil unrest that had been prompted by student protests.
According to an AFP count of victims provided by police and hospitals, this week’s violence has already claimed the lives of at least 115 people. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime, which has ruled the country for 15 years, faces a serious challenge.
Midnight saw the implementation of a government curfew, and when police were unable to contain the widespread chaos once more, the premier’s office requested the military to send troops in.
According to military spokesman Shahdat Hossain, “the army has been deployed nationwide to control the law and order situation.” This was stated to AFP.
At sunrise, the streets of Dhaka, the capital city, were nearly empty as military patrolled the vast metropolis of 20 million people on foot and in armored personnel vehicles.
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