Drenched in blood – how Bangladesh protests turned deadly

Nationally sparked clashes between officers and school students in Bangladesh have been sparked by anti-government protests. At least 150 people have been killed, and some of those who were involved in the carnage have told the BBC what transpired.

One student claimed that officers in the capital Dhaka only wanted to peacefully protest and that they had “ruined” the demonstration by attacking them while they were gathering.

A student president who is now recovering in a hospital described how police allegedly tortured and blindfolded him.

A physician in the emergency department claimed that they were overburdened as dozens of young persons with gunshot wounds were brought in at the top of the conflicts.

Security forces are accused of using extreme force, but the state has attributed the unrest to political opponents, which started after federal jobs were subject to quotas. The majority of these have now been eliminated in response to Supreme Court rulings.

Since Thursday, a global internet blackout has hampered the flow of information in the nation, where thousands of soldiers are enforcing a law.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, who won her third straight term as prime minister in January in a contentious election boycotted by the country’s top opposition parties, is facing the most critical issue in years.

WARNING: This part contains explanations of crime that some readers may find disconcerting.

A scholar at the exclusive BRAC school, Raya ( not her real name ), claimed to have first joined the protests on July 17 but that it was the day the conflicts with the officers became “really awful.”

After 11:30 am, police attacked individuals by throwing break gas shell. That’s how she described it:” A few individuals picked up those rip gas shell and threw them up at the police at that moment.”

She claimed that the police eventually began firing rubber bullets and that they had once stifled the students on their campus, also preventing them from transporting the severely injured to a doctor.

Finally, in the day, the officers ordered them to keep.

” On that day, we simply wanted to do a quiet protest, but the officers ruined the whole atmosphere before we could do something,” Raya said.

Items took an even darker change on 19 July, the time when most of the casualties happened.

At 10:00, thousands of demonstrators were confronting police at Natun Bazaar near Rampura, which is a typically safe area with several embassies that today resembled a war zone.

While a plane was firing from the air, the demonstrators were hurling bricks and stones at the officers who responded with pistol fire, tear-gas, and audio grenades.

Investigators from BBC News witnessed broken branches and burned out cars left on the street, barricades set up by authorities as well as protesters, and broken branches strewn across the street.

The officers could be seen requesting forces and running stock of weapons.

By this point were hospitals in the city beginning to see a large number of injured, many of whom had come on legs and were drenched in blood.

Crisis departments were overburdened because thousands of people flooded in such a short amount of time.

According to one doctor who declined to be identified, the majority of the subjects had been shot with rubber shots.” We referred critically injured people to Dhaka Medical College Hospital because we could not handle them here.

Another physician at a government hospital said for a few days, “it seemed like every other minute one injured came on,” also speaking on the condition of anonymity.

” On Thursday and Friday, most of the people came with injuries from gunshots,” the physician said. ” On Thursday we performed 30 clinics on a single six-hour change.

Even for an expert physician, it was unsettling. some of my coworkers and I were extremely anxious to handle so many wounded young individuals. “

By Friday night, the government had declared a statewide punishment and put the troops on the streets.

It was after Friday’s murder that one of the student officials, Nahid Islam, went missing.

His father said he was taken from a friend’s home at nightfall on Friday, and reappeared more than 24 hours later.

Nahid himself finally described how he had been questioned, questioned, and tortured by allegedly a detective in a place in a house.

He claims that he went into a fainting state and even briefly recovered from awareness early on Sunday night. At that point, he returned home and went to the hospital to seek medical attention for blood clots on both his left leg and his shoulders.

Information Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat alleged that in response to his claims, Mohammad Ali Arafat informed the BBC that the event would be looked into but that he had a suspicion of” damage” and that someone was trying to discredit the officers.

” My question is, if someone from the state has gone, why did they pick him up, prosecute him for 12 days and release him there, so that he can come back and make for a problem? “

Additionally, there are inquiries about the deceased, some of whom do not appear to have a strong relationship to the protest movement.

Maruf Hossain, 21, was looking for work in Dhaka after finishing his studies, according to the BBBC Bangla’s family.

His mother claimed that during the protests, she had told him not to leave, but he was shot in the back as he fought off the battle, before passing away in a clinic.

Selim Mandal, a building contractor, was one of the dead’ additional victims when a fire broke out early on Sunday night at a place he was both working and living.

His burned body was discovered along with those of two individuals. The cause of the fire is mysterious.

Hasib Iqbal, 27, who died in the murder, was said to be a part of the opposition movement but not seriously involved. His family said he was n’t really a part of it, but they’re not sure how he died.

His son’s parents was horrified to learn of his son’s death after attending Friday prayers. “We were supposed to go to prayer together, but since I was a little later, he went to the dome together, ” Mr Razzaq told BBC Bengali.

Eventually, Mr. Razzaq went out to find him, but he only learned that he had passed away days later. His death certificate stated that he had died of suffocation, but family at his death discovered black scars on his neck.

Because “my boy will always come back,” Mr. Razzaq does not intend to file a complaint with the authorities.

” My only son,” he said,” I never dreamed of losing him like this. “