Thousands of Islamists rally in Bangladesh against proposed changes to women's rights

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of supporters of an Islamist group rallied in Bangladesh's capital on Saturday to denounce proposed recommendations for ensuring equal rights, including ones related to property, for mainly Muslim women.

Leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam group said the proposed legal reforms are contradictory to the Sharia law. More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near the Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.”

The group threatened to organize rallies on May 23 across the country if the government didn't meet their demands.

Mamunul Haque, a leader of the group, demanded that the interim government's reforms commission be abolished and its members punished for the proposed changes. He said they hurt “the sentiments of the majority of the people of this country” by labeling the religious laws of inheritance as the main cause of inequality between men and women.

The group's leaders also demanded that the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad punus ban the Awami League party led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August. Hasina's opponents accuse her government of killing hundreds of students and others during the uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Hasina has been in exile in India since her ouster.

Islamist groups in Bangladesh have increased their visibility since Hasina's ouster, and minority groups have complained of being intimidated.

Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Thousands of activists of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam denounce proposed recommendations for equal rights for Muslim women, at a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark.

Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.

One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. The daytime temperature in the capital was -12 C (around 10 F). The streets were covered with ice, and the city rumbled with the noise from generators.

Four days earlier, Russia also sent hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack and, for only the second time in the war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in what appeared to be a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies that it won’t back down.

On Monday, the United States accused Russia of a “ dangerous and inexplicable escalation ” of the fighting, when the Trump administration is trying to advance peace negotiations.

Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Washington deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the conflict and condemns Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.

Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water in the freezing winter months over the course of the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”

In Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian attack also wounded 10 people, local authorities said.

In the southern city of Odesa, six people were wounded in the attack, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. The strikes damaged energy infrastructure, a hospital, a kindergarten, an educational facility and a number of residential buildings, he said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is counting on quicker deliveries of agreed upon air defense systems from the U.S. and Europe, as well as new pledges of aid, to counter Russia’s latest onslaught.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Seven were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s Rostov region, where Gov. Yuri Slyusar confirmed an attack on the coastal city of Taganrog, about 40 kilometers (about 24 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, in Kyiv's latest long-range attack on Russian war-related facilities.

Ukraine’s military said domestically-produced drones hit a drone manufacturing facility in Taganrog. The Atlant Aero plant carries out design, manufacturing and testing of Molniya drones and components for Orion unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Explosions and a fire were reported at the site, with damage to production buildings confirmed, the General Staff said.

It wasn't possible to independently verify the reports.

Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)