Key events from a deadly Saturday in besieged Bangladesh

Scores of people in Bangladesh defied a curfew order to protest against the government, whose heavy-handed response has resulted in at least 25 more deaths, bringing the total to 138 as of Saturday night local time.

The actual death toll may be much higher, our collaborators on the ground say, as we can only calculate figures from a limited number of hospitals.

Police opened fire on protesters at multiple locations. In Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, the police shooting caused at least three deaths and 16 injuries, all from gunshot wounds, according to medical sources.

Photographs of dead bodies show single gunshot wounds, unlike the numerous rubber bullet injuries seen in earlier days.

Several thousand protesters attacked a seven-story Highway Police building in Narayanganj. They set fire to part of the building. Helicopters were sent, and 34 police officers were rescued, according to a police inspector.

Many bodies were taken by their relatives or ended up in smaller neighbourhood hospitals. Dhaka Medical College, which serves as a go-to location for people killed during engagement with the police, was seen struggling to accommodate the rising number of bodies.

Police refuse to provide casualty figures. Until yesterday, police at Dhaka Medical College Hospital were cooperative with journalists, providing death toll figures. But on Saturday, they said they couldn’t reveal any information. Hospital staff are also not giving death figures in an official capacity.

The curfew appears more of a political decision enacted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after meeting with leaders of 13 allied parties on Friday night. The military deployed appears to do little to enforce the curfew. Army troops were seen patrolling Dhaka streets with rifles and APCs, but there are no reports of the army shooting at protesters.

The government announced two days of national holiday on Sunday and Monday.

Meanwhile, a powerful former mayor of Gazipur, from the ruling party, was attacked by protesters and is likely critically injured. His bodyguard was killed.

A jailbreak in Narsingdi, a district close to Dhaka, saw at least 826 prisoners fleeing the prison on Friday. Up to 12,000 people attacked the prison with sticks, hockey sticks, rods, and machetes. Protesters also set three police barracks on fire.

Up to 4,000 protesters attacked a police base in Rangpur, laying siege to the compound until 10 AM Friday. Three protesters were killed.

At least four leaders of the Students Against Discrimination, including Nahid Islam, the main coordinator, were arrested. The police, however, deny having Nahid in custody, according to a local TV channel’s report.

Nurul Haque Nur, the leader of the successful 2018 anti-job quota protests, was also arrested.

Senior BNP leaders Nazrul Islam Khan and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury were arrested from their homes. Detective Branch chief Harun-or-Rashid told a TV station that at least 70 BNP activists were arrested.

The Students Against Discrimination group said several of their leaders were under pressure from intelligence agencies to strike a deal with the government.

The Supreme Court will hear a petition against the High Court order to cancel quotas, a decision that triggered the protests. It is expected that the highest court of the country will abolish quotas again, as Hasina earlier indicated.

The condition of BNP leader Khaleda Zia was stable, according to her doctor Zahidur Rahman. “She has been admitted to a cabin at Evercare Hospital with CCU facilities. Today her condition was stable,” he said, rejecting rumours that she was on life support.●