Drenched in blood – how Bangladesh protests turned deadly
Anti-government protests in Bangladesh have led to nationwide clashes between police and university students, resulting in at least 150 deaths. Some witnesses have shared their experiences with the BBC.
One student reported that demonstrators in Dhaka aimed to hold a peaceful rally, but the police disrupted it by attacking them as they assembled.
Another student leader, now hospitalized, described being blindfolded and tortured by individuals claiming to be police officers.
An emergency department doctor recounted being overwhelmed by the influx of young people with gunshot wounds during the height of the violence.
While security forces face accusations of using excessive force, the government blames political opponents for the unrest, which began after new quotas were imposed on government jobs. Most of these quotas have now been abolished following Supreme Court orders.
Since Thursday, a nationwide internet blackout has limited information flow, with a curfew enforced by thousands of soldiers. Limited connectivity was restored on Tuesday night, prioritizing banks, technology firms, and media outlets.
The unrest represents a significant challenge for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, who won her fourth consecutive term in a contentious election in January, boycotted by major opposition parties.
Raya (a pseudonym), a student at BRAC University, recounted to BBC Bangla that she joined the protests on July 17, but the situation worsened significantly the following day.
She described how police began attacking students with tear gas shells after 11:30 a.m. Some students retaliated by throwing the shells back. Later, the police resorted to rubber bullets and trapped students on their campus, preventing them from taking the injured to the hospital. By the afternoon, police ordered the students to disperse.
“On that day, we just wanted to do a peaceful rally, but the police ruined the whole environment before we could do anything,” Raya said.
Things took an even darker turn on 19 July, the day when most of the fatalities happened.
By 10:00, hundreds of protesters were battling police at Natun Bazaar near Rampura, not far from a normally secure district that’s home to numerous embassies which now resembled a war zone.
The protesters were hurling bricks and stones at police who responded with shotgun fire, tear-gas and sound grenades, while a helicopter was firing from the air.
BBC reporters saw fires everywhere, burnt and vandalised vehicles left on the street, barricades – set up by police as well as protesters – dismantled steel road barriers and broken branches scattered on the road.
The police could be seen asking for reinforcements and ammunition which was quickly running out.
By this time hospitals in the city were starting to see large numbers of injured, many arriving on foot drenched in blood.
Emergency departments were overwhelmed as hundreds of patients flooded in over a short span of time.
“We referred critically injured patients to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as we could not manage them here,” one doctor who did not want to be named told BBC Bangla, saying most of the victims had been shot with rubber bullets.
Also speaking on condition of anonymity, another doctor at a government hospital said for a few hours it seemed like every other minute someone injured came in.
“On Thursday and Friday, most of the patients came with injury from gunshots,” the doctor said. “On Thursday we performed 30 surgeries on a single six-hour shift.
“It was unnerving even for an experienced doctor… some of my colleagues and I were really nervous to treat so many injured young people.”
The situation got worse by Friday evening with the government declaring a nationwide curfew and deploying the army on the streets.
It was after Friday’s violence that one of the student leaders, Nahid Islam, went missing.
His father said he was taken from a friend’s house at midnight on Friday, and reappeared more than 24 hours later.
Nahid himself then described how he had been picked up and taken to a room in a house, interrogated and subjected to physical and mental torture by people claiming to be detectives.
He says he fainted and only regained consciousness early on Sunday morning, at which point he walked home and sought hospital treatment for blood clots on both shoulders and his left leg.
In response to his allegations, Information Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat told the BBC the incident would be investigated but that he suspected “sabotage” – that someone was trying to discredit the police.
“My question is, if someone from the government has gone, why would they pick him up, detain him for 12 hours and release him somewhere, so that he can come back and make such a complaint?”
There are also questions about those who died, some of whom do not seem to have a proven connection to the protest movement.
BBC Bangla spoke to relatives of Maruf Hossain, 21, who was jobhunting in Dhaka after finishing his studies.
His mother said she told him not to go out during the protests but he was shot in the back while trying to escape the fighting, and later died in hospital.
Another of the dead, Selim Mandal, a construction worker, was trapped in a fire which broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning after violence in the area at a site where he was both working and living.
His charred body was found with those of two others. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Hasib Iqbal, 27, who died in the violence, was said to be a member of the protest movement but not deeply involved. His family said he wasn’t really a part of it, but they’re not sure how he died.
His father was shocked to learn of the death of his son, who had gone to Friday prayers. “We were supposed to go to prayers together, but since I was a little late, he went to the mosque alone,” Mr Razzaq told BBC Bengali.
Mr Razzaq later went out to look for him but only found out he had died hours later. His death certificate said he died of asphyxiation but relatives at his funeral found black marks on his chest.
Mr Razzaq does not plan to file a complaint with the police because “my son will never come back”.
“My only son,” he said, “I never dreamed of losing him like this.”
