Over 3700 political violence, protests, and other non-violent events have been added to ACLED’s Bangladesh dataset. This new release represents the addition of two major years in Bangladesh’s political history (2013 and 2014), and more than doubles the number of events contained in ACLED’s Bangladesh dataset. The coverage period of ACLED’s Bangladesh dataset spans from 2013 to present, and the dataset as a whole now contains around 7000 events.
Various events in 2013 — including the February 2013 International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) verdict against the Jamaat-e-Islami leader — spurred widespread political instability across Bangladesh, particularly sparking violence by Islamist groups. The instability continued into January 2014, during which a general election was held and widespread election-related violence occurred. The one year anniversary of this controversial election — January 2015 — corresponded with the month in which the highest number of events were recorded as opposition parties called for nationwide demonstrations, which were met by government crackdowns.
