THOUSANDS of protesters have taken to the streets of Bangladesh to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

People from all walks of life joined the demonstrations on Wednesday over rising food prices.

University student Abu Nayem said: “Living costs have always been a headache … but people like me are dying. I came to protest [against] this careless apathy.”

Bangladesh’s currency the taka has depreciated by up to 25 per cent, raising the cost of food imports and making life harder for the country’s poorest people.

Rallies were held in Dhaka and nine other cities, the latest of a wave of demonstrations in recent months that have sometimes led to violence.

Bangladesh has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, but rising global food and fuel costs led Ms Hasina’s government to impose lengthy power cuts last year.

An unconfirmed number of people were injured during demonstrations in the central city of Faridpur when supporters of the ruling Awami League allegedly attacked protesters.

“The time to cling to power by force is over,” senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mirza Abbas said at a sit-in outside party headquarters in the capital. “Let a neutral government hold an election.”

Police estimated up to 50,000 people were present in the crowd addressed by Mr Abbas, who was released from prison on Monday, a month after a sweeping crackdown on opposition activists.

Police said at least four people had been wounded in the clashes in Faridpur.

“We fired rubber bullets to bring the situation under control,” a senior police officer told reporters.

Shama Obaed, a BNP leader at the Faridpur rally, said at least 100 people had been wounded and more than 30 detained.

The Awami League held a much smaller counterprotest in Dhaka to support Ms Hasina, who has continued to reject calls for her departure.

“Extremists are gathering in one place to topple us from power,” she told supporters at a small gathering on Tuesday.

“Don’t think that the party will fall down if it is shaken. Things are not that easy.”

Western governments have expressed concerns over the political climate in Bangladesh, where Ms Hasina’s party dominates the legislature and runs it as a virtual rubber-stamp assembly.

Two-time premier Khaleda Zia, the BNP chairwoman and Ms Hasina’s long-standing rival for power, is effectively under house arrest after being convicted of corruption charges.

Ms Hasina’s government denies it was behind any enforced disappearance of opposition supporters and leaders and claims that many criminals were killed during gun battles with officers.