Bangladeshi party protests to potentially turn violent

Supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are protesting against the Awami League (AL) government in the form of hunger strikes and protest rallies; BMI Research claims the demonstrations are unlikely to impact the AL in the next parliamentary elections but could lead to “opposition-led violent protests breaking out pre- and post- elections”. This was seen last in January 2015 when mass opposition-led protests for fresh elections saw more than 30 people killed and 7000 arrested in weeks of political unrest.

“This raises the probability that the BNP could once again boycott the elections just like they did in 2014. We cannot rule out the possibility of opposition-led violent protests breaking out pre- and post-elections,” BMI said.