Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters, many carrying batons, thronged a central Dhaka square on Sunday for a massive protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after a deadly police crackdown.
Asif Mahmood, one of the main protest leaders of the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, urged supporters to prepare to fight.
He wrote on Facebook on Sunday, 'Prepare bamboo sticks and free Bangladesh.
While the military has stepped in to help restore order during previous protests, some ex-military officers have joined the student movement, and former army chief General Iqbal Karim Bhuiya changed his Facebook profile picture to red in a show of support.
“Bangladesh Army is a symbol of people's faith,” current army chief Waqar-uz-Zaman told officials at the military headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday.
“It has always stood by the people in the interests of the people and in any need of the state,” he said in an army statement issued on Saturday night.
The statement did not provide further details, and did not specifically say whether the military supported the protests.
Protests against civil service job quotas sparked days of violence in July that left more than 200 people dead in the worst unrest of Hasina's 15-year tenure.
Troops briefly restored order, but crowds returned to the streets in large numbers this week and returned to widespread non-cooperation protests aimed at paralyzing the government.
On Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through Dhaka, police were watching the rallies in large numbers.
A rising movement
The protests have turned into a widespread anti-government movement in the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.
The mass movement includes people from all walks of Bangladeshi society, including film stars, musicians and singers, and rap songs calling for public support have been widely circulated on social media.
“It's not about job quotas anymore,” said Sakhawat, a young female protester who gave only one name, as she painted Hasina a “murderer” on a wall at a protest site in Dhaka.
“What we want is that our future generations can live freely in the country.”
Protests are also expected in support of the government.
Obaidul Kader, general secretary of Hasina's ruling Awami League, called on party workers to gather nationwide in “all wards of Dhaka city” and “in every district” to show support for the government.
“We don't want to get involved in any kind of confrontation,” Kader said.
The capital Dhaka was tense on Sunday, with fewer cars and buses on the normally congested streets of the megacity of 20 million people.
Thousands of protesters are expected to march in Dhaka and nationwide.
student movement
Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing the initial protests, called for rallies across the country.
Protests will take place at Dhaka's entry points, with main processions held at Dhaka's central Shahbagh Square, where crowds gathered on Sunday morning.
The statement issued by the group on Saturday night said, 'We will conduct our protests and rallies peacefully. “But if someone attacks us, we ask (everyone) to make all preparations.”
Students against discrimination have asked their countrymen to stop paying taxes and utility bills from Sunday to put pressure on the government.
They have also asked the government employees and laborers working in the country's economically vital garment factories to go on strike.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth straight election in January after running unopposed.
His government has been accused by rights groups of abusing state institutions to seize power and ousting dissent, including extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme that reserved more than half of government jobs for certain groups. It has since been withdrawn by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
