Dhaka, Bangladesh – Ahsan Habib, a non-public college scholar, has been protesting on the streets of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka for 3 days over what he believes are “violent assaults” by police and ruling occasion supporters on peculiar folks like him.
Scholar protests searching for reform of the federal government’s job quota system have changed into violent riots throughout the nation, demanding the federal government be held accountable for the lack of life over the previous week.
on Sunday, Supreme Court docket strikes down most quotas, stated 93% of presidency jobs will now be primarily based on benefit. However scholar leaders have pledged to proceed their protests, demanding the discharge of jailed protesters and the resignation of officers, together with Inside Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who they are saying is answerable for the violence that has killed not less than 131 folks.
Al Jazeera spoke to a community of medical employees and journalists to tally the loss of life toll, however authorities have to date not launched casualty figures. Prothom Alo and The Each day Star, the 2 largest Bengali and English dailies, reported 146 and 127 deaths respectively.
Greater than 70 % of the deaths had been reported in Dhaka, the place the streets had been suffering from the stays of 1000’s of rounds of tear fuel, sonic grenades, shotgun pellets, rubber bullets and bricks.
Except two law enforcement officials and two ruling occasion supporters, all of the useless had been college students or members of the general public.
“We battle bullets with bricks,” stated Habib, who took half in a protest in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur space on Tuesday. “Not solely the police had been current, however there have been additionally folks from the Consulate. [Awami League] A gaggle of males sporting helmets fired stay ammunition at us.
On Sunday, Khabib’s dad and mom banned him from leaving dwelling below a curfew and a shoot-and-see order. In the meantime, his pal was severely injured within the violence and is receiving remedy at an area hospital.
“How am I going to get quota reform now? This authorities has used a lot violence to suppress us. We wish justice for our useless brothers and sisters.
Scholar leaders additionally demanded an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who initially defended the veterans quota and whose occasion officers known as the protesters “anti-national”.
Protesters known as Hasina, who has been in energy since 2009, a “dictator”. The previous two elections (2019 and 2024) had been marred by fraud, widespread irregularities and opposition boycotts.
“After all, quota reform alone is just not sufficient now,” Dhaka College legislation professor Asif Nazrul instructed Al Jazeera. “So many college students and peculiar folks died on this violent protest, which should have been instigated by the federal government. Somebody have to be held accountable for this tragedy.
Curfews and repression
As violence escalated, the federal government imposed an indefinite curfew beginning at midnight on Friday, with two-hour breaks so folks may refill on necessities.
The federal government has additionally deployed the navy to stop violence from spreading amid accusations that police have used extreme drive towards protesters. Troopers had been seen patrolling numerous metropolis places and different areas on Saturday.
However on Saturday, 1000’s of scholar and non-student protesters defied the curfew and took to the streets, blocking roads and highways and burning tires and planks throughout the nation and in several components of the capital.
Rezaul Karim Rony, a journalist and editor of the month-to-month Joban journal, instructed Al Jazeera that the overwhelming majority of protesters within the Dhaka space the place he lives are usually not college students.
“The protests are not restricted to college students, peculiar folks have additionally joined the protests spontaneously,” Roni instructed Al Jazeera in Mirpur, Dhaka. “Due to the pent-up anger amongst peculiar folks below Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian regime, individuals are utilizing these student-led protests as a platform to precise their dissatisfaction.”
Many establishments throughout the nation, together with vital authorities buildings, Dhaka’s metro and even a jail within the central district of Narsingdi got here below assault by protesters. Some ruling occasion places of work and the houses of some leaders had been additionally focused.
Minister of State for Info Mohammed Arafat instructed Al Jazeera that the protests had been “hijacked” by vested pursuits. He stated college students had been preventing for “reputable calls for” for quota reform.
Greater than 50% of presidency jobs are reserved for the South Asian nation of 170 million folks. For the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, which has stalled job development and soared the price of residing, protesters have been demanding the removing of the 30% quota for descendants of veterans of the 1971 Revolutionary Struggle.
Native journal editor Ronnie additionally believes that some opposition leaders have joined the protests and indulged in “vandalism”. However he stated the federal government’s description of the protesters was “deceptive.” “This was a protest by peculiar folks, now a protest by peculiar folks,” he stated.
On Saturday, Nahid Islam, a key organizer of the coed quota reform motion, was allegedly taken away from a home within the capital by plainclothes police. Islam’s household went to the places of work of the police detective division, however his whereabouts remained unknown.
Web outage paralyzes nation
The web has been utterly shut down since Thursday, inflicting info blackouts and disrupting regular life.
Ridwanul Alam, a non-public sector worker, has been frantically attempting to recharge his pay as you go meter since Saturday morning as there is no such thing as a electrical energy at his dwelling.
Alam first tried to make use of the cellular monetary service bKash to pay his invoice, however failed on account of lack of Web entry. His makes an attempt to withdraw money from the ATM had been additionally unsuccessful.
“I do not know what to do. My home has no electrical energy as a result of the web is shut down,” he instructed Al Jazeera on Sunday.
Financial exercise additionally got here to a whole halt. Customs at Chittagong Port, which handles greater than 80% of the nation’s imports and exports, didn’t clear any containers prior to now 40 hours.
Journalists are working tirelessly to search out methods to gather and archive information. Muktadir Rashid, a reporter for the digital portal Bangladesh Outlook, instructed Al Jazeera that imposing an web blockade now can be tantamount to against the law.
“It is like the federal government is taking away folks’s proper to know,” he stated. “It is a should in any democracy.”
