Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was compelled to resign and flee the nation on Monday, touchdown by helicopter in India simply after lunchtime.
Her dramatic fall from energy comes after tens of hundreds of protesters gathered on the streets of Dhaka all through Sunday and early Monday, in defiance of a nationwide curfew, calling on Hasina to resign.
The protests had been constructing all through July over plans to reinstate a quota that may have reserved a share of presidency jobs for veterans of Bangladesh’s battle of independence.
On Monday morning a near-total web shutdown was imposed, a tactic that has regularly been used to attempt to quell protests within the nation. Footage revealing how the protests escalated remains to be rising in consequence.
But movies analysed by Bellingcat from the ultimate hours of Hasina’s rule reveals police being outnumbered on the streets of the capital as protesters took management and police resorting to firing from the rooftops of a number of police stations.
We additionally recognized incidents of police violence towards unarmed protesters and assaults towards buildings affiliated with Hasina’s Awami League political social gathering.
How Hasina’s Management Unraveled
On Friday, August 2, Netblocks reported that Fb, WhatsApp and Telegram had been restricted, persevering with a sample of blockages that occurred throughout earlier protests in July.
A number of incidents of violence have been reported in northern Dhaka’s Uttara neighbourhood in Sector 11. Bellingcat recognized protesters working away from police apparently firing tear gasoline in the direction of them in Sector 11, right here: 23.8781591,90.3907882.
One other video, shot on the identical day in the identical space, exhibits police firing down the road, lower than 200m away from Shaheed Monsur Ali Medical Faculty Hospital.
A 3rd video taken on the identical avenue exhibits police thrashing an unarmed civilian. The person is then carried away by two different folks.
Bangladesh’s largest nationwide newspaper Prothom Alo reported that clashes broke out after police tried to interrupt up a deliberate scholar march ranging from Milestone Faculty in Uttara Sector 11 about 5pm on Friday. Police fired sound grenades, tear gasoline canisters and rubber bullets at protesters, injuring at the least six folks.
The way it Began: Anti-Quota Protests
Protests started in late July with college students taking to the streets to demand an finish to the federal government job quota which reserved 30 p.c of jobs for the family members of veterans who took half in Bangladesh’s battle of independence.
The quota made aggressive authorities jobs much more inaccessible to the broader inhabitants and college students argued it favoured supporters of the ruling social gathering.
This coverage was beforehand scrapped in 2018 following widespread protests however was reinstated in June, sparking the most recent wave of dissent.
Regardless of the principally peaceable nature of the protests, greater than 200 folks, principally college students, have been reportedly killed, with native counts placing the figures a lot greater.
Using deadly power by police in response drew widespread condemnation from human rights teams, and it marked essentially the most lethal violence in Bangladesh since its 1971 battle of independence.
Regardless of the scaling again of the quota on July 21, protests continued over police violence and college students known as for Hasina to resign.
Earlier Incidents of Police Violence
Bellingcat verified footage from plenty of incidents of police violence throughout the July protests, exhibiting unarmed protesters being attacked.
In footage (Warning: Graphic content material) from Dhaka’s Jatrabari neighbourhood, coordinates 23.705481,90.4448897, a police officer will be seen capturing pellets at an injured scholar being carried. The protester is left motionless inflicting the person carrying him to desert him and flee.
Some posts on social media determine the protester as Eman Hasan Taim, though Bellingcat was not capable of independently confirm this. Taim, 17, is listed as among the many lifeless by Shohid, an internet site compiling a listing of those that died within the violence.
A number of movies present a automobile owned by Bangladesh’s elite paramilitary power, the Fast Motion Battalion (RAB), ramming into protesters in Uttara at 23.868263, 90.400344 earlier than protesters violently assault (Warning: Graphic content material) the driving force.
One other video, taken at 23.7621326,90.443909 in Dhaka’s Bansree neighbourhood, exhibits police firing at an individual attempting to cover by hanging from a constructing.
Individually, a number of movies taken in Dhaka’s neighbouring metropolis of Savar exhibits a person being carried on the roof of an Armoured Personnel Provider (APC) alongside the Dhaka-Aricha Freeway at 23.8465328,90.2570423.
The person, who seems to be unconscious is then pulled off the roof of the automobile by two law enforcement officials, onto the highway.
Because the automobile drives away somebody will be heard within the footage asking, “Is he lifeless?”
The sufferer was later recognized as Shykh Yamin, a scholar of the Army Institute of Science and Expertise (MIST).
Bellingcat was unable to search out particulars of Yamin’s dying however Amnesty consulted an impartial forensic pathologist who examined photographic proof of his wounds to chest, concluding that his dying might moderately be presumed to have been brought on by birdshot pellet accidents.
Saturday, August 3:
Large crowds gathered on the streets throughout Bangladesh’s predominant cities, demanding a public apology from Hasina for the violence and killings and calling for her to go away workplace.
Protesters blocked predominant roads in Bangladesh’s second-largest metropolis Chittagong (formally often called Chattogram) and gathered in Dhaka’s largest buying space close to town centre.
Chittagong, Bangladesh, 03 August 2024 pic.twitter.com/mxUAiXS4uc
— ParanjoyGuhaThakurta (@paranjoygt) August 4, 2024
Scholar protesters declared an indefinite non-cooperation motion and mass gatherings happened in a number of areas.
Sunday, August 4:
By Sunday, widespread rallies have been persevering with throughout Dhaka and a number of skirmishes broke out between police, protesters and supporters of Hasina’s Awami league. At the very least 13 law enforcement officials and 90 civilians have been reportedly killed within the clashes.
The federal government imposed an indefinite curfew throughout the nation.
We geolocated the next footage exhibiting a automobile ploughing right into a crowd of individuals on the road at excessive pace to this location 25.01713,90.0136716 exterior a ceramics showroom within the northern metropolis of Sherpur.
Social media posts claimed the automobile was a police automobile. Bellingcat couldn’t confirm this from the footage alone because the automobile had no apparent distinguishing markings that may instantly determine it as a police automobile. It was additionally not doable to substantiate the variety of accidents from this incident, though one particular person seemed to be immediately hit and was tossed violently into the air.
Violence additionally broke out in Dhaka as protesters gathered close to the Prime Minister’s residence. A video captured protesters exterior a police station, some armed with sticks attacking what did look like a police automobile and others throwing objects in the direction of the station. Above them, police will be seen firing from a rooftop which X consumer PowerPigeon2 geolocated to the Khilgaon Police Station at 23.750973, 90.425147.
Along with the police, plenty of folks in civilian garments will be seen on the roof of the police station throwing objects at people on the road. The road quickly clears out as somebody behind the digital camera will be heard saying in Bengali, “There’s blood on the highway”.
One other video taken roughly 100m from the Khilgaon Police Station at 23.7502851,90.4254509 exhibits police firing their weapons down the road. The police look like accompanied by males in civilian garments carrying batons and throwing objects. A video taken from a unique angle exhibits the identical scene.
Bellingcat was not capable of confirm who the folks in plain garments have been, however footage clearly exhibits a number of folks in civilian clothes alongside police throwing objects in the direction of protesters. Protesters informed the Guardian that police and members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the scholar wing of Hasina’s Awami League, have attacked protesters collectively.
On Sunday night time Hasina reportedly met along with her military chief and army generals who stated they wouldn’t implement the curfew or fireplace on protesters, based on Reuters experiences citing military sources. Prothom Alo reported that officers tried to persuade Hasina to relinquish energy and clarify that the protests couldn’t be put down by power, however based on the BBC, it was solely after they recruited members of the family to intercede that Hasina agreed to go away.
Monday, August 5:
On Monday morning a near-total nationwide web shutdown occurred nationwide. Regardless of the curfew, tens of hundreds of individuals gathered in Dhaka and started making their approach to Hasina’s residence.
A video confirmed police firing their weapons from a rooftop which Bellingcat geolocated to the Uttara East Police Station, right here 23.8675773,90.4003782. A number of males in civilian garments may also be seen on the roof throwing stones. Movies of individuals carrying the injured (1, 2) in the identical space have been additionally shared on-line.
Dhaka-based English language newspaper Day by day Star reported that protesters and police clashed on the web site for hours, with police firing bullets, rubber bullets and tear gasoline from the roof of the station which protesters stormed. At the very least 21 folks, together with a policeman, have been reportedly killed and greater than 100 injured on the web site.
Within the west, in Jashore, a lodge situated at 23.1656977,89.2083993 was set on fireplace by unidentified males reportedly killing at the least 24 folks. The lodge was owned by a frontrunner of the Awami League.
Related scenes performed out at plenty of areas throughout the nation. Prothom Alo reported that plenty of authorities official’s homes, the workplaces of the Awami League, police stations and different authorities installations have been attacked, vandalised and torched in 39 districts.
Elsewhere within the capital, protesters celebrated on the streets after it turned clear the military wouldn’t implement the curfew and upon affirmation that Hasina had left, flying by helicopter from her residence, finally touchdown in Delhi after lunchtime.
What’s subsequent for Bangladesh?
The scholars’ victory comes towards the backdrop of immense violence documented in movies, particularly within the capital. Plenty of retailers have been trying to doc and determine all of the protesters who’ve been killed since demonstrations started. At the very least 90 folks, together with law enforcement officials, have been killed within the renewed protests and clashes over the weekend.
Yesterday, Bangladesh’s Nobel laureate and broadly revered economist Muhammad Yunus–a preferred selection amongst scholar demonstrators – agreed to go the nation’s interim authorities.
Jake Goddin, Lucy Swinnen and Rob Cecilio from Bellingcat’s Discord neighborhood contributed reporting to this piece.
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