Family photographs on the floor in a room of the vandalised residence of Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka, on Thursday  —AP/PTI

Agencies DHAKA

Fresh clashes broke out in Bangladesh's central Gazipur district on Friday night during the "Bulldozer Program" by students opposed to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At least  15 students were injured and have been hospitalised, a local reporter told ANI.

The clashes broke out when the locals announced on the microphone that ‘robbers’ had come on spotting “students” moving towards former PM Sheikh Hasina's Liberation War Affairs Minister Mozammel Haq's house, he said over the phone. What followed was a clash between locals and students.

The central leaders of the anti-discrimination student movement, the group that led to ouster of Sheikh Hasina, have arrived in Gazipur on Saturday to stage a  rally to protest the attack on the students, the reporter added. According to local media, under the "Bulldozer Program", the houses and offices of Awami League leaders and workers are being attacked across the country.

Houses of former President Abdul Hamid, former Army chief Moeen U Ahmed and several Awami League leaders were attacked, vandalised and torched over the past  few days. The murals and busts of Bangladesh's founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were demolished and defaced in several districts, The Daily Observer reported.

According to one  report, the Awami League’s office has been bulldozed in Kishoreganj district, Bangladesh's former President Abdul Hamid's residence was set on fire and a sculpture was vandalised. Meanwhile, Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has  called on all citizens to immediately restore law and order.

A statement from Yunus’s office said, "The government understands the activists' sense of outrage, that even from her refuge in New Delhi, Hasina continues to try to mobilise her militants to hamper Bangladesh's recovery from her years of abuse." Yunus called  for respecting the rule of law, stating that it differentiates the new Bangladesh from the old one under Hasina's regime. He urged citizens to channel their energy into productive and peaceful efforts to support positive changes.