- author, Soumitra Shubhra, Tarequzzaman Shimul, Marium Sultana
- role, BBC Bangladesh, Dhaka
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Anti-government protests in Bangladesh have sparked nationwide clashes between police and university students, leaving at least 150 people dead and some of those caught in the bloodshed telling the BBC what happened.
One student said protesters in the capital Dhaka just wanted to hold a peaceful rally but police “ruined” it by attacking them during the rally.
The student leader, who is currently recuperating in hospital, described how he was blindfolded and tortured by people claiming to be police.
Meanwhile, an emergency doctor said hospitals were overwhelmed with dozens of young people being brought in with gunshot wounds as clashes escalated.
Security forces have been accused of using excessive force, but the government blames political opponents for the unrest that erupted after quotas were imposed on government employees, most of which have now been scrapped by Supreme Court order.
A nationwide internet shutdown since Thursday has restricted the flow of information in the country, where a night-time curfew is enforced by thousands of soldiers.
Limited connectivity was restored by Tuesday night, with priority given to banks, technology companies, media and other businesses. Mobile users began exchanging WhatsApp messages with friends and family, but users reported slow internet speeds and mobile internet and sites such as Facebook remained down.
The violence poses the most serious challenge in years for Sheikh Hasina, 76, who secured a fourth term as prime minister in January in a contentious election boycotted by the country’s main opposition party.
WARNING: This work contains graphic violence that may be disturbing to some readers.
Raya (not her real name), a student at the private BRAC University, told BBC Bangladesh she first took part in protests on Wednesday (17 July), but it was the following day that clashes with police “got really bad”.
“After 11.30am, police started attacking students by throwing teargas shells. At that time, some students picked up the teargas shells and threw them back at the police,” she explained.
She said police then began using rubber bullets, at one point trapping students inside the campus and preventing the seriously injured from being taken to hospital.
Later in the afternoon, police ordered them to leave.
“That day, we just wanted to have a peaceful rally, but the police ruined the whole environment before we could do anything,” Raya said.
On July 19, the day most of the deaths occurred, things took an even darker turn.
By 10 a.m., hundreds of protesters were battling police in Natun Bazaar near Rampura, not far from the usually safe area home to many embassies, but which now resembled a war zone.
Protesters hurled bricks and stones at police, who responded with shotgun shells, tear gas and sound grenades, and helicopters fired shots from the air.
BBC journalists saw fires everywhere, burnt and destroyed vehicles left on the streets, barricades set up by police and protesters, destroyed metal road barriers and broken branches strewn across the roads.
Police were seen calling for reinforcements and ammunition, which were fast running low.
By this time, scores of wounded had begun arriving at the city’s hospitals, many of them on foot and covered in blood.
The emergency department was overwhelmed with hundreds of patients arriving in a short space of time.
“We have referred the seriously injured to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as we cannot treat them here,” a doctor, who asked not to be named, told BBC Bangladesh, adding that most of the victims had been hit by rubber bullets.
Another doctor at a public hospital, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said it seemed like a wounded person was being brought in every minute for several hours.
“On Thursday and Friday, most patients came in with gunshot wounds,” the doctor said. “On Thursday, I performed 30 surgeries in a six-hour shift.”
“It was unsettling even for experienced doctors. I and some of my colleagues were really nervous about treating so many injured young people.”
By Friday evening, the situation had worsened, leading the government to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy troops to the streets.
One of the student leaders, Nahid Islam, went missing after Friday’s riots.
His father said his son was taken from a friend’s house late on Friday night and reappeared more than 24 hours later.
Nahid himself described how he was taken to a room in the house by people claiming to be police detectives, where he was interrogated and subjected to physical and psychological torture.
He lost consciousness and finally regained consciousness early Sunday morning, walked home and went to hospital for treatment for blood clots in both shoulders and his left leg.
Responding to the claims, Information Minister Mohammed Ali Arafat told the BBC that the incident would be investigated but that he suspected “sabotage” by someone trying to discredit the police.
“My question is, if government officials have left, why did they take that person, detain him for 12 hours and then release him somewhere so he can come back and lodge such a complaint?”
Questions remain about those who died, some of whom have no proven links to the protests.
BBC Bangladesh spoke to relatives of Marruf Hossain, 21, who had finished his studies and was looking for work in Dhaka.
His mother said she had told her son not to go out during the protests, but he was shot in the back while trying to flee the fighting and later died in hospital.
The other fatality, construction worker Selim Mandal, was trapped in a fire that broke out after violence at the work site where he lived and worked in the early hours of Sunday morning.
His charred body was found along with the bodies of two others. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Hasib Iqbal, 27, who was killed in the violence, was said to have attended the protests but was not deeply involved. His family said he was not actually taking part in the protests and it was unclear how he died.
The father was shocked to learn of his son’s death, who had gone to Friday prayers. “We were meant to go to prayer together but I was a bit late so he went to the mosque alone,” Mr Razzaq told BBC Bengali.
Razak then went to look for him, only to find out he had died a few hours later. His death certificate said he had died of asphyxiation, but relatives who attended the funeral noticed a dark mark on his chest.
Razzak does not plan to file a police complaint because “my son will never come back.”
“I never dreamed I’d lose my only son like this,” he said.
