How the protests in Bangladesh became violent and bloody

In Bangladesh, conflicts between police and university students have broken out across the country as a result of demonstrations against the administration. A minimum of one hundred fifty people have been slain, and several of those who were caught up in the violence have provided the BBC with a description of what took place.
A student stated that the protesters in the capital city of Dhaka had the intention of holding a peaceful rally; nevertheless, the police attempted to “ruined” the event by attacking them as they were gathering.
After being blindfolded and subjected to torture by individuals purporting to be police, a student leader who is currently recuperating in the hospital revealed the incident.
While this was going on, a doctor working in the emergency department stated that they were completely overwhelmed by the number of young people who were brought in with gunshot wounds during the height of the fighting.

Despite the fact that security forces have been accused of using excessive force, the administration has pointed the finger of blame at political opponents for the unrest that occurred after quotas were created for government positions. The majority of these have been discarded as a result of orders from the Supreme Court.
At the same time as thousands of soldiers are enforcing a curfew, the country has been experiencing a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday, which has hampered the flow of information around the country.
Connectivity was restored to a limited extent on Tuesday night, with priority being given to businesses such as financial institutions, technological enterprises, and media outlets.
Sheikh Hasina, who is 76 years old and won her fourth consecutive term as prime minister in January in a contentious election that was boycotted by the country’s main opposition parties, is facing the most significant threat in years as a result of the violence.

A student at the private BRAC university named Raya, who does not reveal her true identity, told BBC Bangla that she initially participated in the demonstrations on Wednesday, July 17; however, it was the following day when she experienced “really horrible” skirmishes with the police.
After 11:30 in the morning, police officers attacked students by shooting tear gas rounds at them. She recounted the situation as follows: “At that precise moment, a few students picked up those tear gas shells and threw them back towards the policemen.”
After some time, she stated that the police began shooting rubber bullets, and at one point, they locked the students inside their campus, even preventing them from transporting those who were severely hurt to the hospital.
Afterward, in the afternoon, the police gave them an order to evacuate the area.
“On that day, we just wanted to do a peaceful rally, but the police ruined the whole environment before we could do anything,” Raya stated in response.
The Bangla BBC Police officers on duty at the scene of demonstrations in DhakaThe Bangla BBC
Between Thursday and Saturday, the majority of the violent incidents took place.

The 19th of July, which was the day that the most of the fatalities occurred, was when things took an even more tragic turn.
At ten o’clock, hundreds of demonstrators were engaged in a street fight with police at Natun Bazaar, which is located close to Rampura. This neighbourhood, which is generally a safe place and is home to a large number of embassies, now looked like a war zone.
The demonstrators were throwing bricks and stones at the police, who responded with shotgun fire, tear gas and sound grenades. Additionally, a helicopter was firing from the air to further escalate the situation.
When reporters from the BBC arrived on the scene, they witnessed flames everywhere, vehicles that had been vandalised and burned, barricades that had been set up by both the police and demonstrators, broken branches spread across the road, and steel road barriers that had been destroyed.
It was not uncommon to witness the police making requests for additional reinforcements and ammunition, both of which were rapidly running low.
At this point, major hospitals in the city were beginning to receive a significant number of injured patients, the majority of whom arrived on foot, covered in blood.
In a relatively short amount of time, emergency departments were flooded with hundreds of patients, which caused them to become overloaded.
A doctor who did not wish to be identified told BBC Bangla that the majority of the casualties had been hit with rubber bullets. “We referred critically injured patients to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as we could not manage them here,” the doctor said.
An further physician working at a government hospital, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, stated that for a period of many hours, it appeared as though someone was hurt every other minute.
“On Thursday and Friday, most of the patients came with injury from gunshots,” according to the medical professional. “On Thursday we performed 30 surgeries on a single six-hour shift.”Even though I am a seasoned physician, it was nevertheless unsettling to treat such a large number of injured children and teenagers. Some of my colleagues and I were particularly anxious about the situation.
After the government announced a statewide curfew and deployed the army to the streets on Friday evening, the situation became even more dire than it had been previously.
The BBC Islam, Bangla, and NahidiAfter claiming that he had been subjected to torture, BBC Bangla Nahid sought medical attention at a hospital.

The disappearance of one of the student leaders, Nahid Islam, occurred not long after the violence that occurred on Friday.
According to his father, he was stolen from the residence of a friend at midnight on Friday, and he did not return until more than twenty-four hours later.
Nahid then went on to relate how he had been picked up and transported to a room in a residence, where he had been questioned and tortured both physically and mentally by individuals who claimed to be investigators.
His account is that he passed out and did not recover consciousness until the early hours of Sunday morning. After that, he made his way home and went to the hospital to receive treatment for blood clots that were located on both of his shoulders and his left leg.
Mohammad Ali Arafat, the Minister of Information, responded to his charges by telling the BBC that the event would be investigated, but that he suspected “sabotage,” which means that someone was attempting 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?”
Concerns have also been raised over the individuals who lost their lives, some of whom do not appear to have a demonstrated connection to the protestation movement.
After completing his education, Maruf Hossain, who was 21 years old at the time, was looking for work in Dhaka. BBC Bangla met with his relatives.
In spite of the fact that his mother had warned him not to leave the house during the demonstrations, he was wounded in the back while attempting to flee the violence and ultimately passed away in the hospital.
Another one of the victims, Selim Mandal, was a construction worker who was trapped in a fire that broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning at a location where he was both working and residing. The fire was started as a result of fighting that occurred in the neighbouring region.
Along with the bodies of two other people, his burnt body was discovered. It is not known what caused the fire to start.
It was said that Hasib Iqbal, who was 27 years old and died in the violence, was a part of the protest movement but was not substantially involved in it. Although he was not a participant in the incident, his family has stated that they do not know how he passed away.
When his father found out that his son had passed away, he was at a loss for words. His son had gone to pray on Friday. “Due to the fact that I was running a little behind schedule, he went to the mosque by himself,” Mr. Razzaq explained to BBC Bengali. “We were supposed to go to prayers together.”
Later on, Mr. Razzaq went out to hunt for him, but he received the news that he had passed away few hours later. Asphyxiation was listed as the cause of death on his death certificate; nevertheless, relatives who attended his funeral discovered black scars on his chest.
In light of the fact that “my son will never come back,” Mr. Razzaq does not intend to register a complaint with the respective authorities.