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Published : 05 Aug 2024, 05:05 AM
The first day of the student-led campaign aimed to bring down Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government convulsed the country with a wave of violence that left nearly 100 people dead.
As the day progressed, the number of fatalities kept climbing on television tickers and news websites. Despite the escalating violence, neither the government, the protesters, nor any third parties took steps to intervene.
By day's end, opposition activists were actively joining students across various regions in the movement for the government's ouster, initiated by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.
Awami League activists were in the streets to stop the protesters, resulting in many casualties. Police personnel were the main target of attacks across the country. The bodies of 13 policemen killed by beating were left here and there in Sirajganj’s Enayetpur.
Many government establishments; including 19 police stations, four offices of superintendents of police (SP), offices of deputy commissioner (DC) and Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), were attacked Bangladesh-wide.
Arson attacks were also reported on the houses of ministers and MPs, business organisations and offices of Awami League’s units.
The country’s top medical institution, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Medical University, also came under attack. The entire area was shrouded in thick black smoke after several vehicles were set ablaze on the hospital premises.
Several thousands of patients, physicians and nurses were panicked fearing the spread of the fire to the hospital buildings at that time.
The government has urged citizens to thwart the saboteurs, describing them as ‘militants’.
An indefinite nationwide curfew has been imposed. The government also declared a three-day general holiday starting Monday to Wednesday. Facebook, WhatsApp and mobile internet have also been turned off.
On the other hand, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement has moved up its ‘Long March to Dhaka’ programme to demand the government’s fall to Monday. The platform also announced its programmes at eight spots in Dhaka. Considering everything, the people of the country are worried, fearing fresh violence on Monday.
VIOLENCE IN DHAKA
The residents of Dhaka began the day on Sunday fearing violence. The worry can be assumed to be true considering the counts of bodies and casualties at different hospitals in Dhaka. A total of 12 deaths were reported by the capital’s three hospitals, including Dhaka Medical College Hospital. In addition, many people claimed to have spotted scattered bodies in different places, but the deaths were not confirmed.
Apart from DMCH, several hundreds of people have received treatment in various hospitals in Dhaka’s Mirpur and Uttara. Among them, 222 people were treated for injuries at DMCH, 60 at Suhrawardy Hospital and over 100 at various hospitals in Mirpur.
Most of the injured suffered gunshot wounds. Many people were hit by beating, bricks,
Most of the injured were shot. Besides beating, brick blows, gunshots and rubber bullets, many people were injured by live rounds. There were fewer public transports on Dhaka streets in the morning. The administration's main centre, the Secretariat, was also deserted.
Among 12 deaths in the capital, nine were reported at DMCH, one each at Mitford and Suhrawardy Hospitals and another in Uttara.
A youth was brought with a bullet wound to the DMCH around 3:45pm, Aminul Islam, bdnews24.com’s Dhaka Medical Correspondent, said. He was identified as Abdullah Siddiqi, 23, a BBA student at Habibullah Bahar College. He lived in Old Dhaka’s Shaheb Bazar area.
Shortly afterwards, a youth named 22-year-old Touhidul Islam was brought in with a bullet wound from Farmgate. He died at 5:30pm.
He had completed his Higher Secondary Certificate exams and was waiting for admission at the undergraduate level.
He also worked at a private institution in Dhaka’s Mirpur DOHS. He hailed from Barishal’s Banaripara.
Two more people with serious injuries were brought to the hospital. Those who brought them in did not allow their identities to be registered. One of them was draped in a national flag.
Protesters then picked up the bodies of these two and Touhidul and carried them away towards Dhaka’s Central Shaheed Minar.
Their names and identities have yet to be confirmed.
Around 6:30pm, Romiz Uddin Rup, 24, a student from Daffodil International University, was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Shortly after, an unidentified body was left at the hospital’s emergency department by several individuals. He was later identified as Riaz Uddin Talukdar, 30, a Mir Hazirbag resident who had been shot in Jatrabari.
Around 7:45pm, Jewel, 28, who had been identified by his first name and shot in the chest, was brought to the hospital from the Kazla area by several teenagers. Jewel lived near the Konapara 7-storey mosque in Demra.
Rezaul Karim, 16, who was shot in Jatrabari, was also brought to the DMCH but was declared dead by doctors.
Mohammad Selim, who was injured by a brick and was being treated at the hospital, also died.
At Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital, Zahir Uddin, 25, who was brought from Gulistan, was brought dead.
Shafiur Rahman, director of Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, confirmed that an unidentified dead person was brought to their facility. Approximately 60 people are currently receiving treatment for injuries from the day’s violence.
A three-way clash between police, Awami League activists and protesters erupted at Azampur in Dhaka’s Uttara. The protesters claimed that the Awami League leaders opened fire towards them during the clash. At one point during the chase and counter-chase, several protesters cordoned off the ruling party leaders and beat them. Several of them were injured in the incident.
Hasan Habib, former MP of the area, said a person named Anwarul Isllam, 60, died in the beating of the protesters. Local leaders and activists also claimed the death of Abdus Sattar, a leader of Awami League’s Dakshin Khan unit, in the attack at similar place. However, the reports were not confirmed afterwards.
The protesters vandalised a police prison van and five cars parked on the premises of Dhaka’s CMM court. Both pro-Awami League and pro-BNP lawyers brought out processions on court premises.
The protesters occupied the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway after 11:30am in Dhaka’s Jatrabari. Except for ambulances, they allowed no vehicles on the road. Even the rickshaw rides were also halted.
As the number of protesters was fewer in the area, the leaders and activists of Awami League, Chhatra League and Jubo League forced them to leave the area. The ruling party activists left when the protesters emerged in the area from Shonir Akhra and Rayerbagh areas.
The protesters blocked the police station when the law enforcers tried to disperse them by firing tear gas shells. Several police personnel were trapped inside the police station at that time. Later they regained control with a significant number of bullets, sound grenades and tear gas shells, leaving many people injured.
Clashes erupted between protesters and Awami League leaders and activists and police in the capital’s Mirpur area throughout the day. Several hundred people received treatment at local hospitals in the vicinity.
PANIC AT BSMMU
Around 10:30am on Sunday, a group of workers from Dhaka’s Chawkbazar gathered with sticks at Shahbagh.
Visiting the site, our reporters Rasel Sarker and Shafat Rahman said, a group of Awami League and Chhatra League activists were chanting slogans in front of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Medical University at the time.
The two sides began hurling brickbats back and forth when they came across one another. At one point the Awami League and Chhatra League activists were chased into BSMMU. The protesters then broke through the hospital gates and scattered the Awami League activists.
They then vandalised several vehicles on the hospital premises, and burnt several motorcycles and buses. They also threw brickbats at hospital buildings and vandalised them with sticks.
The thick black smoke billowing from the burnt vehicles engulfed even the tallest building of the state-run hospital. Many panic-stricken people came down to the ground with patients from the top floors, but they found no way to leave the hospital due to the violence. The patients and their relatives, physicians and nurses began screaming out of fear, many took to social media to seek help. At one point, the workers of the hospital stood back and started to hurl brickbats. The Fire Service personnel sprinkled water on the burnt vehicles after the situation eased after half an hour of heavy clashes.
AWAMI LEAGUE, ALLIES TAKE POSITIONS ACROSS DHAKA
Ruling party supporters mobilised across various points in Dhaka to counter the non-cooperation movement.
From 10am on Sunday, leaders and activists from the Awami League, Jubo League, Shechchashebok League, Chhatra League, and other allied and professional organisations took up positions.
Thousands of supporters gathered at key locations including Mirpur 10 Circle, Lakshmibazar in Old Dhaka, Bangabandhu Avenue, Dhanmondi, Farmgate, and near the Aarong intersection beside the National Parliament.
Awami League supporters were also seen setting up positions and staging motorbike rallies at Titumir College in Mohakhali, Kakrail Crossing, Paribagh, and Science Laboratory Crossing.
GOVERNMENT BECOMES STRICTER
The government declared an indefinite curfew from 6pm Sunday amid violence and clashes nationwide as protesters push for a one-point movement calling for the government’s resignation.
The decision was announced in a press release by Shareef Mahmud Apu, senior information officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs, on Sunday.
“A night curfew has been enforced in all divisional Sadar areas, city corporations, municipalities, industrial areas, district Sadar areas, and Upazila Sadar areas from 6pm on Sunday evening,” the statement said.
The government also declared a three-day general holiday starting Monday as unrest continues to rock Bangladesh.
The general holiday comes amid the imposition of an indefinite curfew.
The holiday will last from Monday to Wednesday, and the authorities will make further decisions based on the evolving situation, Shibli Sadiq, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Administration, said on Sunday.
‘LONG MARCH TO DHAKA’ PROGRAMME MOVED FORWARD TO MONDAY
The Anti-discrimination Student Movement moved up its ‘Long March to Dhaka’ programme to demand the government’s fall to Monday.
Asif Mahmud, one of the coordinators of the student-led anti-government movement said: “In consideration of the situation, we have made the emergency decision to move the ‘March to Dhaka’ programme forward from Aug 6 to Aug 5. This means that we are calling on students and the general public to march to Dhaka tomorrow.”
MOBILE INTERNET TURNED OFF AGAIN; FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP UNAVAILABLE
Users are once again facing difficulties as mobile internet service is once again unavailable.
Social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp were not available either, even from broadband connections.
However, the BTRC says they have not received any instructions on the matter.
BTRC Secretary Noore Alam Khwaja said: “We did not receive any instructions from the authority on turning off mobile internet. I do not know anything about this issue.”
ISPB President Emdadul Hoque said that he had not received any instructions to turn off mobile internet either.
“However, it can be turned off without us receiving instructions,” he said. “We have two more layers operating above us and they can turn it off. We are only providers, but I have no information on the matter.”
13 POLICEMEN AMONG 22 KILLED IN SIRAJGANJ
Police Headquarters said 13 police personnel were killed at Enayetpur Police Station in Sirajganj.
Kamrul Ahsan, senior information officer of the Police Headquarters Public Relations Division, confirmed the deaths and said a member of the Highway Police was also killed in Cumilla’s Eliotganj.
Bijoy Bashak, additional DIG of the Rajshahi Range, said:
“Protesters marched to the location and then attacked Enayetpur Police Station and vandalised it. At one point they set fire to the police station and beat the police personnel to death.”
Witnesses say protesters gathered on the south side of the police station at 11am. The crowd included students, BNP, and Jamaat-e-Islami activists, and people of different classes and professions.
The protesters marched from the area towards the police station and police attempted to block them. The two sides then engaged in pitched battles for an hour.
When protesters threw brickbats, police responded with tear gas and bullets. At one point the protesters entered the police station and set a fire. Police personnel were then caught and beaten to death.
In addition, 14 more people died in Sirajganj in the clashes between the ruling party activists and protesters and BNP and Jamaat loyalists.
In other districts, 10 in Lakshmipur, 8 people in Feni, 6 in Narsingdi, 5 in Golapganj of Sylhet, 4 in Bogura, 3 each in Rangpur, Kishoreganj, Comilla, Sherpur, Pabna and Munshiganj; 2 people each in Magura and Joypurhat; and 1 each in Barisal Sadar, Savar, Bhola, Cox's Bazar, and Habiganj have died.
‘MAXIMUM MEASURES’ AGAINST VANDALISM: DMP
Dhaka Metropolitan Police or DMP warned it will use the "full force of the law" against vandals and those responsible for violence, following recent attacks on police stations and facilities across the country, including in Dhaka.
DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman issued the warning at a press conference at the DMP Media Centre on Sunday night.
DMP Commissioner Habibur warned there would be no leniency towards those involved in arson, vandalism, and the killing of police officers.
He said: "If necessary, DMP will be forced to use the highest power of the law against these individuals."
He added: “What began as a student movement for quota reform has been hijacked by criminals who have unleashed unprecedented chaos, arson, and vandalism across the country.”
AL CANCELS MONDAY’S MOURNING PROCESSION
The ruling Awami League will not hold a pre-scheduled mourning procession as an indefinite nationwide curfew was imposed following a wave of deadly violence.
The rally was scheduled for Monday, but the curfew announcement from Sunday evening came.
The party’s Deputy Office Secretary Sayem Khan confirmed the cancellation of the mourning in a notice on Sunday.
