At least 77 useless in violent protests | EUROtoday
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VSThis is without doubt one of the deadliest days because the begin of the protests towards the federal government in Bangladesh: 77 individuals died this Sunday, August 4, in clashes between opponents of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, safety forces and supporters of the ruling occasion. “The shocking violence in Bangladesh must stop,” reacted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a press release during which he mentioned he feared “further loss of life and more destruction.”
Among the useless had been a minimum of 14 cops, based on police spokesman Kamrul Ahsan. Rival camps clashed with batons and knives, and safety forces fired reside ammunition. Sunday's loss of life toll brings to a minimum of 283 the variety of individuals killed because the protests started in July.
Police mentioned protesters stormed a police station within the northeastern city of Enayetpur. “The terrorists attacked the police station and killed 11 policemen,” mentioned Bijoy Basak, deputy inspector normal. At least 12 individuals had been killed within the capital, a number of by gunfire, whereas 18 individuals died within the northern district of Sirajganj, based on police and hospitals.
Former military chief requires troop withdrawal
Faced with these clashes in a number of cities, specifically in Dhaka, the capital of twenty million inhabitants, a former military chief known as for the withdrawal of troops from the streets. Earlier within the day, hundreds of Bangladeshis had gathered in a sq. in Dhaka to demand the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, after greater than a month of protests initially directed towards employment quotas within the civil service. Some waved a Bangladeshi flag on an armoured car beneath the gaze of the troopers, based on movies posted on social networks and verified by AFP. They responded to the decision of a pupil coalition, Students Against Discrimination, which had urged civil disobedience the day earlier than.
“There were clashes between students and men from the ruling party,” police inspector Al Helal informed AFP. Deaths had been reported in Dhaka and the northern districts of Bogra, Pabna and Rangpur, in addition to Magura within the west, Comilla within the east, and Barisal and Feni within the south. The entire of Dhaka changed into “a battlefield” and a crowd of a number of thousand protesters set fireplace to automobiles and motorbikes close to a hospital, one other police supply mentioned.
One of the scholar leaders, Asif Mahmud, had warned his fellow residents on Sunday that they should be “ready to fight”. “Prepare your bamboo sticks and liberate Bangladesh,” he wrote on Facebook. For his half, the overall secretary of the ruling Awami League occasion, Obaidul Quader, had known as on Bangladeshis to assemble on Sunday in “all the neighbourhoods of Dhaka” and “in all the districts” of the nation.
The military, “at the side of the people”
The clashes are among the many deadliest since Sheikh Hasina got here to energy 15 years in the past. Her authorities has tried to revive order by chopping off web entry, imposing a curfew and deploying the military. Former navy officers have since thrown their help behind the protest motion.
We are deeply involved […] and saddened by all of the killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests which have plagued Bangladesh within the final three weeks,” former Bangladesh military chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan informed reporters on Sunday. “We call upon the government of the day to immediately withdraw the armed forces from the streets,” Bhuiyan added in a joint assertion with different former senior officers, stressing that individuals had been “no longer afraid to sacrifice their lives.” “Those who are responsible for pushing the people of this country to such dire poverty must be brought to justice,” he added. On Saturday, present military chief General Waker-uz-Zaman mentioned the military had “always stood by the people and will always stand by the people,” based on a press release.
Social and political disaster
In this Muslim nation of 170 million inhabitants with many unemployed graduates, college students demanded the abolition of a system of constructive discrimination, accused of favoring the hiring of these near the federal government within the administration. Partially abolished in 2018, this method was restored in June by the courts, setting the powder keg alight, earlier than a brand new turnaround on the finish of July by the Supreme Court.
The social disaster changed into a political disaster from July 16, when the repression brought about its first deaths, with protesters demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, 76, who has been in energy since 2009. “It's not just about job quotas anymore,” Sakhawat, a younger protester we met in Dhaka, the place she was portray graffiti on a wall calling Sheikh Hasina a “killer,” informed AFP. “We want future generations to be able to live freely,” she defined. Forty-seven textile corporations mentioned they had been “in solidarity” with the protest motion on Sunday.
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/bangladesh-au-moins-77-morts-dans-des-manifestations-violentes-05-08-2024-2567169_24.php