Live Blog: Bangladesh Protests 2024

Sajeeb Wazed Joy speaks

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) adviser, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, took to social media, to promote the government's talking points.

Blaming the opposition for the destruction, he said on his official Facebook page, "Bangladesh Burnt (sic.) as BNP-Jamaat Wreaked Havoc See How BNP-Jamaat Used General Students A (sic.) Cover for Their Partisan Agenda of Breaking Bangladesh." A well-produced video, seven minutes and twelve seconds in length, accompanied his post, but while it displayed destruction, it contained no evidence to support what he said. Instead, it repeated the government's claims, including how destruction of a data centre was to blame for the nationwide internet outage.

On X, formerly Twitter, in a longer post, Joy seemed to contradict himself. He said, "PM #SheikhHasina's Govt is sincere in investigating all incidents of death," which implies that investigations had not been conducted. In the same post, under the heading of, "How did such a peaceful movement turn into a campaign of arson, vandalism, violence and looting?" Joy said, "Because, as usual, the #BNP-#JamaatEIslami clique used an essentially non-political and non-violent movement to wage a violent movement of their own." Therefore, the perpetrators have been identified, before an investigation has been completed and its results published.

Laying the blame for all violence on the opposition, Joy used it as justification for the government's heavy-handed response, saying "It was only due to these unprecedented levels of violence that the govt took the drastic decision of deploying armed forces and imposing curfew on movement (temporarily only)."

Joy's influence extends beyond his official role as the ICT adviser. His social media accounts historically boast government propaganda. On this occasion, his pronouncements via them bore a striking resemblance with the government ministries' statements in the US, what Awami League leaders have started to say in Bangladesh, and what PEN Bangladesh President Kazi Anis Ahmed said on his private Facebook account a few days ago.

Revised count from Bangladesh unrest stands at 187, says top daily

The death toll from Bangladesh’s civil unrest has reached 187 as of Monday, according to a count by Prothom Alo, a leading vernacular newspaper. Among the 13 newly reported deaths, 7 were previously uncounted bodies, and 5 were people who succumbed to past injuries. One death was recent.

Meanwhile, a pause by a key student leader, Nahid Islam, who returned from a disappearance during which he suffered torture, ends by Tuesday local time. He made four demands, including the restoration of Internet connectivity, stating that failure to meet these demands may force students to resume protests.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the minister of information and technology, told reporters that the government was poised to restore broadband Internet service by Tuesday.

UAE takes action against Bangladeshi protesters

Bangladeshi diaspora communities have been organising peaceful protests in solidarity with the student protesters in Bangladesh. Amongst them have been migrant workers in restrictive nations in the Middle East. In spite of pressure from the Embassy of Bangladesh in those countries, for them not to protest, they have.

57 such Bangladeshis have been sentenced to prison in the United Arab Emirates, including three for life, according to WAM, the UAE's state news agency. The UAE's strict penal code makes unauthorised protests illegal.

Migrant workers are one of the largest sources of foreign currency for Bangladesh, and one of the two largest industries, propping up a weak economy. They are often victims of fraud, trafficking and wage theft, and their lives are constantly imperilled by dangerous working conditions in the countries they are sent to, and by hailing from the disenfranchised impoverished rural populations at home.

Government on damage control mode in Washington

In the wake of the deadliest recorded civil unrest in Bangladesh, the Awami League government has embarked on a public relations spree through its embassy across Washington D.C.'s official, think-tank, press, and lobbying circles.

The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information sought to clarify their stance via two statements obtained by Netra News. Both repeated the government’s domestic talking points: the government wasn’t opposed to the students’ movement, and the students were not responsible for the violence—opposition parties were.

The Information Ministry’s statement claimed the government’s and the students’ positions were “not incompatible,” but also accused the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its former allies of using “the non-violent and non-political anti-quota protestors as a shield.”

“It’s important to note that the government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, had already implemented the subject matter of the protests, i.e., protesters’ demands for quota reform/abolition more than five years ago,” it said.

Prime Minister Hasina was widely seen as grudgingly and angrily abolishing the quota system in 2018 in the face of a student protest similar to the recent one.

The statements did not address the prime minister and the government’s strenuous defence of the quota system, their support for those who challenged their own reluctant decision in a court, and the widespread belief in Bangladesh that the courts cannot deviate a lot from the government’s wishes.

The rhetoric against protesters that critics say instigated conflicts was also left unaddressed.

Neither of the statements offered any proof or specific details but were filled with rhetorical arguments.

The statements portrayed the government as exercising “utmost restraint,” even as the death toll from its handling of the protests now stands at at least 174, according to a local press count. It did not mention Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s statements calling the students “progeny of razakar,” remarks that incited tensions.

On one hand, the statements spoke of a supposedly independent investigation body led by a High Court judge, which the government repeatedly highlighted to underscore the credibility of the investigation. On the other hand, they blamed the violence squarely on opposition parties and religious extremists.

The statements also highlighted the government’s efforts to assuage tensions, seeking to blame protesters for not finding these efforts sufficient, and then blaming opposition parties for the subsequent protests that turned violent.

“Regrettably, despite the express willingness of the government to attend to the demands of the protesters, including the televised assurance by Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the exercise of utmost restraint by the law enforcement agencies, the anti-liberation and anti-state elements and religious extremists, including the BNP-Jamaat clique, took advantage of the situation by infiltrating the movement and turning it violent,” the Foreign Ministry statement reads.

“Unfortunately, nothing proved enough to stop the spread of violence since the anti-liberation, anti-state, and extremist elements led by BNP-Jamaat took control of the movement from the innocent unsuspecting students.”

One of the statements referred to a link to a government website — a link rendered inaccessible due to the ongoing Internet shutdown that took many websites operating inside Bangladesh down.

Total death count stands at 174, says top Bangladesh newspaper

Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s leading daily newspaper, reported in its Monday print edition that 174 people have died during the ongoing civil unrest in the country, as more details emerge from smaller hospitals, according to our collaborator on the ground.

Agence France-Presse (AFP), the France-based news agency, has so far confirmed a death toll of 163.

This high death toll is likely an underestimate, as reporters are still hindered by restrictions on movement due to the curfew and an all-out internet shutdown.

Yunus urges world leaders, UN to do “everything within their powers” to end violence

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, among the victims of the nationwide internet blackout in Bangladesh, has managed to send out an urgent appeal to world leaders and the United Nations “to end the violence against those who are exercising their rights to protest.”

Yunus, arguably the highest-profile Bangladeshi alive, has faced an intense campaign of harassment and numerous legal charges from the government of Sheikh Hasina, who is widely understood to consider him a political threat, a charge her supporters strenuously deny.

“I urgently call on world leaders and the United Nations to do everything within their powers. There must be investigations into the killings that have taken place already,” said Yunus in a statement supplied by the “Protect Yunus” campaign, a global collective of his well-known supporters.

“I urge people of goodwill around the world to add their voices to my call for world leaders and the United Nations to end this unnecessary carnage so that we can all get back to the work of building the self-reliant, democratic, and peaceful Bangladesh of our dreams,” he added.

Diaspora members organise solidarity rallies and supportive statements

Bangladeshi diaspora communities around the world, including in restrictive nations such as Qatar, have taken to the streets and parks in solidarity with protesting students, a torrent of social media posts show.

In Doha, a group of expatriate workers marched in defiance of a directive from the Bangladesh embassy to “respect Qatari law,” calling for “the end of the Awami League government.”

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Often victims of trafficking, fraud, wage theft, and dangerous working conditions, Bangladeshi migrant workers are one of the largest sources of foreign currency for Bangladesh, bringing in billions of dollars in remittances that prop up the local economy and fuel growth.

Meanwhile, across North America, more than 1,600 Bangladeshi-origin students signed an open letter to “condemn the atrocities committed against Bangladeshi students and citizens by the government,” according to an organiser of the letter.

“Free speech, debating public policy, and criticising the government should be basic rights in any democracy. No one deserves to be killed for exercising these rights,” they noted.

“We call on the international community to support Bangladeshi citizens in their fight for civil liberties, democracy, and justice.”

Diaspora members also took to Instagram and Facebook to bring attention to what many called “a massacre” that the international press was unable to cover due to a stringent internet blackout.

Many of these viral social media posts garnered tens of thousands of reactions each.

Across the United States, Bengali communities organised concerted efforts to call their local lawmakers to speak out.

“We organized 200 calls to AOC’s office,” said an organiser of one such effort, referring to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent US congresswoman whose New York constituency includes a sizable Bangladeshi community.

Ocasio-Cortez eventually called on the Bangladeshi government to de-escalate violence against protesters.

Lloyd Doggett, another Democratic congress member from Texas, said in a post on X that Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was “using the tyrant’s handbook” in handling the ongoing unrest.

“Hasina must face consequences for the ‘busloads’ of the dead on her hands,” he added.

In London’s historic Aftab Ali Park, a collective of diaspora activists, Nijjor Manush, organised a rally in solidarity with students. “First count the bodies, then count the quota,” they chanted

Bangladesh minister claims unrest could be quelled in ‘half an hour’

The Bangladesh government could stamp out the civil unrest in “no more than half an hour” if it unleashed the full force of its might, said Mohammad A. Arafat, an information minister, at a press conference broadcast by staunchly pro-government Somoy TV on 21 July.

“Even if the government fires rubber bullets every second, it would still take five years to run out. That’s how much is in storage,” he boasted, seeking to dispel what he called a rumour of depleting rubber bullet supplies.

Arafat, a professor of management at a private university in Dhaka, has emerged as a top spokesperson for the government’s handling of a student protest that has since then mushroomed into larger-scale civil unrest.

“The government hasn’t even used five per cent of its total capability in this,” he said, pointing his index finger. “If it does, it won’t take half an hour. But the government is showing patience to avoid casualties.”

As reported earlier by Netra News, from Thursday, 18 July, onwards, reporters observed live bullet wounds on many of the deceased, in contrast to the earlier casualties that appeared riddled with numerous rubber bullets, fuelling speculations of dwindling reserves of non-lethal ammunitions.

Arafat’s latest remarks are likely to raise questions about the government forces’ use of live bullets to tame the protests despite ostensibly possessing abundant supplies of less-lethal alternatives.

Nahid released, father alleges “severe tortures”

Nahid Islam, a key student leader of a student movement that’s now escalated into civil unrest, was released blindfolded in Dhaka, his father Badrul Islam told Netra News in an interview.

Badrul said his son was severely tortured while in the custody of law enforcement, with marks of abuse on his hands and feet, adding that he was hospitalised with severe injuries.

Nahid’s capture, also reported earlier by Netra News, was never acknowledged by the Detective Branch of police, even after being confronted by three other student leaders in touch with the government.

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court sets reduced quota shares

Bangladesh's Supreme Court appellate division has set new quota shares for public jobs, reducing the allocations to 5% for descendants of freedom fighters, 1% for ethnic minorities, and 1% for people with disabilities and third gender. This is a significant reduction from the previous total of 56%, which included 30% for offspring of freedom fighters.

This issue triggered a student movement that has now escalated into broader civil unrest, resulting in over 150 deaths due to the government's heavy-handed response.

The Supreme Court’s decision was widely expected, as the government sought to quell tensions with the protesting students, a move virtually promised by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

However, after more than 150 lives lost, it remains unclear whether the Court's new ruling — which overrules an earlier High Court decision to reinstate 56% quotas that triggered the original protest — will help calm the situation.

Some student leaders are demanding accountability for the killings of protesters, de facto immunity from future prosecutions, and several other accountability measures.

Bangladesh death count crosses 150

The death toll from the Bangladesh government’s handling of mushrooming civil unrest has crossed 150, according to a revised figure calculated by Netra News’ collaborators on the ground in Dhaka.

The updated figures consist of six deaths on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, 38 on Thursday, 105 on Friday and Saturday combined, and one death of a previously injured person on Sunday. Friday and Saturday were counted together as many of Friday’s deaths were confirmed on Saturday.

Of those killed on Saturday, two were reported by BenarNews, a Washington-based news outlet with a presence in Bangladesh, to be members of the police.

Earlier, the print edition of the Prothom Alo newspaper, equivalent to the country’s newspaper of record, reported 148 deaths as of the end of Saturday, noting that it was unable to reach all hospitals amid a stringent communication blackout.

Described as arguably “the worst civilian massacres in Bangladesh’s history” by a journalist, the death toll was likely fueled by the use of live bullets on protesters by police from Thursday onwards.

Netra News has received photographs of individuals killed during the protests bearing signs of a single gunshot wound, in contrast to earlier dead bodies that bore signs of numerous rubber bullet wounds.

Total death toll at 148, says top Bangladesh daily

The overall confirmed number of those killed during the ongoing anti-government protests stands at 148, according to Prothom Alo, the top Bengali vernacular newspaper, equivalent to the country’s newspaper of record, while noting that the paper was unable to reach all hospitals.

Netra News has obtained a copy of the front page of the paper’s Sunday, July 21st edition, as well as copies of other major newspapers.

According to a daily breakdown given by Prothom Alo, six people were killed on Tuesday, no deaths were recorded on Wednesday, 41 were killed on Thursday, 75 on Friday, and 26 on Saturday.

On Saturday, the paper reported that 15 people were killed in the metro area of Dhaka, four in Savar on the outskirts of the capital, four others in Mymensingh, two in Gazipur, and one in Narsingdi.

The total count is higher than Netra News’s latest internal count of 138.

Due to the ongoing internet shutdown and information blackout, the online editions of all major newspapers in Bangladesh have ceased to function. However, newspapers have continued to publish their print editions, in which they seek to cover the protests.

Prominent academics from Dhaka describe “crimes against humanity”

The University Teachers’ Network, a coalition of academics from Bangladesh, has issued a strongly worded statement to Netra News, providing a crucial eyewitness account amid an ongoing internet and telecommunications blackout.

Signed by 22 leading academics originally from Bangladesh, the statement called on the United Nations Human Rights Council and the international community to heed “the pleas of the Bangladeshi people,” calling for their intervention to prevent “crimes against humanity that are being committed against our students and the citizens.”

Their accounts offer a rare glimpse into the ground reality in Bangladesh as it remains isolated from the rest of the world due to a stringent information blackout.

It detailed how the ongoing protest, which began as an anti-quota movement, turned violent “after the ruling party’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), unleashed violence against the protesting students and killed a number of them.”

“The ruling party’s killer forces continued their attacks against civilians, causing the deaths of more than a hundred people in the last five days,” the statement reads.

“Bangladesh now stands in silence, terrified and beaten down by an uncaring government,” the academics added.

They also described conditions where “police and paramilitary forces shot at the students and innocent bystanders alike from rooftops and helicopters.”

Netra News received the statement via a postgraduate student at the University of Delaware, who said the signatories sent the statement through him as they were unable to draft and send it electronically due to the ongoing internet blackout.

United States asks citizens to not travel to Bangladesh

The US State Department has explicitly asked American citizens to refrain from travelling to Bangladesh due to escalating civil unrest, according to a statement published on its website and Facebook page.

The Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory for Bangladesh is the highest level of travel advisory in the Department’s lexicon.

On July 20, 2024, the Department also revealed it has authorized the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and their families, underscoring the severity of the situation.

“Travelers should not travel to Bangladesh due to ongoing civil unrest in Dhaka. Demonstrations and violent clashes have been reported throughout the city of Dhaka, its neighboring areas, and throughout Bangladesh,” the statement added.

GrameenPhone owner Telenor “deeply concerned” over internet blackout

Telenor Asia, the parent company of Bangladesh’s largest mobile operator, Grameenphone, issued a statement expressing deep concern over the ongoing internet blackout in Bangladesh.

The company emphasised the critical role of internet connectivity in the daily lives of Bangladeshi citizens, particularly for essential services such as healthcare and banking.

But the statement was met with scepticism from a top Bangladeshi digital rights advocate.

“It’s lacklustre because it does not acknowledge the fact that Telenor— for years— has failed to push back on government requests to shut down mobile internet or allow intelligence agencies to install surveillance devices on their networks,” they said. “It also fails to take accountability that Telenor has never, and even now, provided transparency on state-ordered internet service disruptions which is a basic tenet of customer service.”

“Both of these violate Telenor’s commitments under” international guidelines, they added.

(Updated with comments from a digital rights activist.)

AOC calls for de-escalation of violence against protesters

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an influential progressive US congresswoman whose New York constituency includes a sizable Bangladeshi community, has called on Bangladeshi authorities to end the internet blackout and to “de-escalate violence against protesters” in a post on X.

The US lawmaker, known for her unapologetically left-wing views and massive online presence, has emerged among a coterie of progressive politicians lending crucial statements of support to the embattled US President Joe Biden.

Her social media post, while unlikely to blunt the Bangladesh government’s policy towards the protests, has the potential to draw greater global attention towards the ongoing student protests that have gripped the nation of 170 million and claimed more than 130 lives.

Her call for a de-escalation of violence comes as diaspora Bangladeshi communities have become extraordinarily vocal in condemning the government’s brutal handling of the protests back home.

Fresh statement from protest leader

Netra News has obtained a video statement from Abdul Kader, one of the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement leading the ongoing student protests in Bangladesh. We have broadcast the statement on Facebook without any significant alterations or edits.

Key points of the statement:

• “Law enforcement agencies and party cadres launched sudden attacks on students, shooting and killing almost a hundred students like birds. Several of our coordinators have been abducted. [...] Intimidation is being used.”
• “We cannot betray the martyrs by going to a roundtable discussion. We will not sit for dialogues under these circumstances. We unequivocally declare that our movement on the streets will continue until our demands are met.”
• “We firmly believe that our patriotic army will stand by the students and the public in this justified movement of the student community.”
• “We appeal to the nation: stand by us, stand by the ordinary students, stand by your kids.”
• “Our nine demands are as follows:
  • The Prime Minister must apologise to the nation by accepting responsibility for the student killings.
  • The resignation of Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader
  • Dismiss the DIG (deputy inspector generals), Police Commissioner, and Police Superintendent of the areas where student killings and injuries occurred.
  • The resignation of the Vice-Chancellors and Proctors of Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, and Rajshahi University."
  • Arrest and file murder charges against each police officer and ruling party terrorist accused of student killings.
  • Compensation for the families of killed and injured students.
  • Ban party-affiliated student politics on all campuses.
  • Reopen educational institutions and halls.
  • Ensure that no student participating in the movement faces any academic or administrative harassment.”
• “If our nine demands are met, we will sit for discussions with the general students. Through these discussions, we will finalise the dialogue with the government. Otherwise, our shutdown program will continue.”

BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury arrested: family

Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, a senior leader with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was arrested by authorities, his son told a Netra News contributor.

We are awaiting police confirmation.

Chowdhury would be the second senior opposition leader to be arrested since the anti-quota student movement began. A former cabinet minister, he led the opposition party’s foreign affairs-related matters.

Students insist that they don’t have any partisan affiliation, and their movement was specific to their demands, but government officials often blamed the BNP for the protests.

At least 25 more dead on Saturday, bringing total to 138

At least 25 people were killed on Saturday in yet another day of deadly violence in Bangladesh resulting from a ferocious government crackdown on a student movement that has morphed into anti-government protests, according to a count by our contributors on the ground who spoke to hospitals across the country, and a separate count of five additional deaths by a Dhaka-based newspaper.

Eighteen of the killings on Saturday took place during the day, while two people who were critically injured on Friday died in intensive care in a hospital. An additional five deaths from Narsingdi, a district close to Dhaka, were privately verified by a Dhaka-based daily, but Netra News wasn’t able to independently verify the figure.

We also received updated information from prior casualties, bringing the total revised tally of confirmed deaths to 138 — a figure likely to be a conservative count, according to journalists on the ground. Hospitals face increased pressure from authorities to limit cooperation with reporters.

The police, more than any other government agency on the ground, appear more aggressive in curbing the protesters. Some protesters have responded with retaliation, setting fire to several police vehicles and police stations.

Following intense violence on Friday, the Bangladesh government introduced a curfew, ordered a so-called “shoot-at-sight” policy, and deployed the army to tame the protest, while an all-out Internet shutdown remained in effect.

The last time Bangladesh witnessed such emergency measures was in 2007 during a caretaker regime, when an emergency declaration coupled with army deployment brought calm in two days. However, this bout of unrest appears to continue unabated, as public anger spreads from students to the transport sector and other working-class segments of society.

(This is a developing story, and the details may change as they emerge.)

Disappearances feared in crackdown on protest leaders

After we reported earlier that a key leader of the anti-discrimination student movement, Nahid Islam, and former Dhaka University student union leader Nurul Haq Nur were detained, several members of their families have allegedly been “held hostage” as a pressure tactic, according to Nahid and Nur’s relatives and colleagues who spoke to Netra News.

Meanwhile, BBC Bangla reports that while an unnamed police official privately acknowledged detaining Nahid Islam, a spokesperson for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Faruk Hossain, denied knowing anything about his arrest.

Nahid’s father, Badrul Islam, told BBC Bangla that more than 18 hours after the arrest, the police refused to reveal his whereabouts.

Bangladeshi laws mandate that any individual detained must be presented before a court within 24 hours.

The denial and refusal by police to acknowledge a detainment are often seen as preludes to enforced disappearance.

Nahid’s colleagues told Netra News that several others of their peers have been detained without any acknowledgement in what they called acts of “enforced disappearance.”

At least eight killed on Saturday

At least eight people were killed on Saturday, July 20th, during the ongoing anti-government protests defying curfew in Bangladesh, according to a count by Netra News based on eyewitness accounts and a separate count by BBC Bangla citing medical sources.

The latest count brings the confirmed tally of deaths resulting from the harsh crackdown on the protests to 113.

BBC Bangla reports that four of the deaths occurred in Jatrabari, Dhaka, during clashes with police. Medical sources told the outlet that the bodies stored in the Dhaka Medical College arrived from Jatrabari.

One other death occurred in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, and 20 others were admitted to local hospitals with injuries.

In Uttara, Dhaka, Netra News received eyewitness accounts of three people killed when a group of unidentified individuals in plain clothes opened fire on protesters.

Netra News also received unverified reports of multiple dead policemen but is awaiting official confirmation.

Military largely restrained despite ‘shoot-at-sight’ orders

The army, which has been deployed alongside the curfew, appears to have not taken a harsh stance so far, our contributors from Dhaka report.

There are army checkpoints at various places in the capital, where army personnel check the identity cards of people on the streets and use loudspeakers to instruct everyone to stay indoors. Apart from Rampura and Shanir Akhra, the army has not been seen taking an aggressive stance in the capital.

The army’s posture is significant because Obaidul Quader, the Awami League party secretary and a top cabinet minister, told the local press that the curfew and the deployment of the armed forces signify “shoot-at-sight” policy at “miscreants.”

For older updates, please go to our previous live blog.