BANGLADESHI security forces have clashed with supporters of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, leaving at least four people dead and scores injured.

The violence erupted on Wednesday morning and spread as a new political party formed by students who led last August’s uprising against Ms Hasina announced a march towards the south-western Gopalganj district, Ms Hasina’s ancestral home and the stronghold of her Awami League.

Authorities later imposed an overnight curfew in the district.

Since Ms Hasina’s overthrow 11 months ago, Bangladesh has been plagued by chaos and unchecked mob violence. 

Wednesday’s attack highlights the deep divisions in the country as its interim government keeps failing to bring the deteriorating security situation under control.

TV footage showed pro-Hasina activists attacking police with sticks and setting vehicles on fire as a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying the leaders of the students’ National Citizen Party arrived for commemorations of the uprising.

Party leaders took shelter in the office of the local police chief. Footage showed top leaders being escorted by soldiers to an armoured vehicle for safety. 

They later left for a neighbouring district with security escorts.

Jibitesh Biswas, a senior official at a state-run hospital, told reporters that the bodies of at least three people had been brought in. The country’s Daily Star newspaper reported that four people had died.

The interim government vowed on Wednesday that the attacks on the students would not go “unpunished” and, in a statement issued on behalf of interim leader Muhammad Yunus, described the violence in Gopalganj as “utterly indefensible.”

Ms Hasina’s Awami League which authorities banned in May, issued several statements on X condemning the violence and blaming the interim government for the deaths and injuries.

“We urge the world to take note of this blatant use of security apparatus,” one Awami statement said, adding that the government had used mob violence against “dissenters.”