More clashes as student road protests escalate
DELHI: Students at several university campuses in Bangladesh clashed with police officers in riot gear on Monday, as the government met what began as a students’ road-safety protest with escalating force and panic.
Dhaka, the capital, was in its ninth day of widespread protests, and rights advocates said they feared an increasingly violent response from the government, led by the Awami League, which is due to face elections in December.
A prominent photojournalist, Shahidul Alam, was arrested on Sunday night, his wife said, and rights groups including Amnesty International said they were looking into reports of four more arrests of activists that they called unjustified.
In a text message on Monday, a student protester at the East West University described seeking refuge inside a classroom after being attacked by police officers with tear gas and rubber bullets. He added that supporters of the government had assaulted them in tandem with police, throwing rocks and wielding makeshift clubs.
A professor at a second university said he was barricaded with students inside a classroom on Monday afternoon, with the smell of tear gas hanging in the air. The professor and student both requested anonymity, fearing arrest. But there was less sign on Monday of the middle school and high school students who along with their parents had previously formed the backbone of the protests. Several students said their teachers had warned them that those missing school would be reported to authorities, leading to a knock on the door of their family home and possible arrest.
“Repression has been a trademark of this government over the past five years,” said Omar Waraich, deputy director for South Asia at Amnesty International. “Whether it is journalists, the opposition or peaceful protesters, dissent has never been tolerated.”
Asaduzzaman Khan, Bangladesh’s minister for home affairs, denied that police or Awami League members had used violence to quell dissent. He accused opposition parties of infiltrating the protests and “trying to create a violent situation”.
“We have repeatedly accepted the demands of the school and college students for better road safety conditions, and we have asked them to go back to their homes as we have started to implement their demands,” he said.
Bangladeshi government officials have pointed to a recording released over the weekend that they say shows an opposition politician ordering an activist to rally more people to the streets to piggyback off the student movement. But a diplomat in Dhaka, who asked for anonymity to speak on a politically sensitive question, said the student movement appeared organic and genuine, and the opposition’s role limited.
The catalyst was the death of two teenagers on July 29, when a bus racing a rival to a stop ploughed into a crowd of waiting would-be passengers.
Students responded by erecting checkpoints across the city, forcing motorists — including police officers and government ministers — to produce valid driver’s licences and car registrations. Those who could not do so, or who they said they had seen violating other traffic laws, they handed over to the police.
The government’s response was initially cautious, but police began to use force against protesters on Saturday.
For many, the bus crash has come to symbolise larger problems of poor governance, nepotism and corruption. Bangladesh’s transportation sector has long operated above the law, with powerful officials either owning private bus companies or relying on bus and rickshaw drivers for political support. Transportation companies are accused of bribing police to avoid investigation even of deadly accidents.
Over 7,000 people died in traffic accidents in the country last year, according to Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association.