Four deceased individuals identified

For the first time, Netra News has obtained photographs and identified four of the 67 individuals killed during the student protests in Bangladesh on Friday.

We can reveal that among the deceased is a 22-year-old bakery worker named Shakil, who died in the Bosila area of Mohammadpur, Dhaka. Doctors at Dhaka Medical College received his body, which was riddled with bullets. Shakil hailed from the southern district of Bhola.

Jihad Hossain, an undergraduate student at Titumir College, was killed in Dhaka’s Jatrabari area. He hailed from the Barishal district.

Ismail, a 17-year-old, was also among the dead. He was killed in the Mohammadpur neighbourhood in Dhaka.

Kamal Mia, a middle-aged rickshaw puller from the Narsingdi district, was shot to death in the Paltan area of Dhaka. He left behind four children, including three daughters and one minor son, his eldest daughter told a reporter.

[Editorial Note: We’ve decided to not publish the photographs due to their gruelling nature.]

While news agencies such as BBC and Agence France-Presse separately reported a death toll of 67 in a single day on Friday, this is the first time that specific details about those who died have emerged. The continued internet shutdown and blackout of independent news outlets made it harder for journalists to obtain specific details about the fatalities.

“I saw hundreds of bullet-hit people being taken there with bloodied bodies,” a reporter present at Dhaka Medical College’s emergency ward said.

Meanwhile, local TV stations in Dhaka reported sightings of army deployment after the government announced a curfew and called for military intervention to quell the protests.

Key student leaders detained in early morning raid

Bangladeshi authorities detained a key leader of the ongoing student protest in the early hours of Saturday, marking a significant escalation in the crackdown against protesters.

Nahid Islam, a coordinator of the students’ platform Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, was arrested in a raid by a joint team of the Border Guard of Bangladesh and the Detective Branch of the police in the Nandipara area of Dhaka, according to a movement leader who spoke to Netra News.

Their platform spearheads the anti-quota movement, which has now evolved into a broader anti-government protest. The government’s harsh handling of the protest has led to at least 105 deaths, according to AFP, while the military is poised to be deployed amid curfew.

In a separate operation, the Detective Branch detained Nurul Haq Nur, a former leader of the Dhaka University student union, early Saturday morning, according to his wife, Maria Nur.

At the time of his arrest, Nur was at home with his wife and eight other colleagues. “The police broke down the door to take Nur into custody,” Maria Nur told Netra News.

Nurul Haque Nur was the most prominent leader of the 2018 anti-quota movement, which successfully compelled the government to abolish the quota system before it was revived by a court decision, triggering the latest wave of protests.

Meanwhile, shortly before his arrest, Nahid Islam gave an interview to Netra News, announcing that Sarjis Alam had been relieved of his position as coordinator of the movement.

The BBC Bangla reported that Sarjis Alam, a former activist of the ruling party-affiliated Chhatra League, and two other students had met a government delegation and presented an eight-point demand.

In his last interview, Nahid Islam urged the nation to continue the movement for “justice for all murders.” “The government is conspiring to divert attention from the movement,” he said. “The public must stay vigilant.”

He also called on domestic and international human rights organisations and news organisations to “stand beside” the protesting students in Bangladesh.

Pro-government TV reports orders for “shoot at sight”

Ekattor TV, one of the fiercest pro-government television stations in Bangladesh, reports that authorities have ordered a “shoot at sight” policy for protesters.

The move, if implemented, is expected to dramatically shoot up fatalities during the protests. The harsh response by the government has already claimed more than 100 deaths.

This order follows the imposition of a curfew, the mobilisation of the military under civilian administration, and a Netra News interview by a key protest organiser in which he vowed to disregard the curfew.

The comments by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, equating protesters with wartime local collaborators of the Pakistani military, which fueled anger among protesters were made in response to a question from an Ekattor TV correspondent.

A hotbed of pro-Awami League propaganda, the Dhaka-based outlet is owned by Mostafa Kamal’s Meghna conglomerate.

Protest leader vows to ignore curfew, carry on protests

In an exclusive interview with Netra News, Nahid Islam, a key coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, called on the people of Bangladesh to ignore the government-imposed curfew and enforce “a complete shutdown nationwide.”

Nahid claimed that Bangladeshi security forces killed scores of people on July 19th and stated that engaging in dialogue with the government “would be a betrayal with the blood of the fallen students,” who have died since the crackdown began on July 15th.

Hasina cancels foreign trips amid rising death toll

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cancelled her long-planned tour of Spain amid one of the deadliest protests in Bangladesh, as the death toll from her government’s handling of a student protest reached 105, according to Agence France-Presse.

Local TV stations in Dhaka report that the visit, which would have been the first by any Bangladeshi leader to Spain, was intended to strengthen political relations and would have been followed by a bilateral visit to Brazil.

Initially a peaceful student protest demanding reforms to the public job quota system, the movement has escalated into broader anti-government protests due to the brutal response, resulting in over a hundred deaths, including 63 on Friday alone, and thousands injured. Netra News reporters witnessed ruling party cadres indiscriminately firing at civilians in Dhaka.

The government has also deployed the military and imposed a curfew to quell the protests.

Death toll rises to 63 in a single day: report

BenarNews, a Washington D.C.-based publication with reporters on the ground in Dhaka, reported to have confirmed the deaths of 63 people on Friday alone as protests intensified in Bangladesh.

This brings the total number of deaths to 102.

The government has decided to enforce a curfew by deploying the military to quell the protests.

Government enforces curfew, deploys army to control protests

The Bangladesh government has decided to issue a curfew and mobilize the military to quell an ongoing student agitation that has culminated in a broader anti-government protest, Netra News can confirm.

A ferocious crackdown by the security forces and the ruling party’s student wing has claimed dozens of lives and injured thousands.

Independent TV, a Dhaka-based station owned by Salman F Rahman, an adviser to and close ally of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also reported that the deployment of the military is meant to “aid the civilian administration.”

This marks the first time the government of Hasina has been forced to deploy the military to quell unrest during her uninterrupted tenure of 15 years. The last time Bangladesh saw such an act was in 2007 during an interim government when the declaration of emergency led to the deployment of the military, which then essentially took over the country’s affairs.

The current army chief, Waker-uz-Zaman, is a relative of the prime minister.

His late father-in-law, Mustafizur Rahman, also a former army chief, was Hasina’s uncle by marriage.

Pen Int’l criticizes Bangladesh protest response, while local offshoot defends government

PEN International, a prominent worldwide association of writers, has issued a strong statement urging the Bangladeshi authorities to safeguard journalists and lift the internet shutdown. But the president of its local offshoot, PEN Bangladesh, staunchly criticized the protesters and defended the government in a social media post.

The Pen International statement emphasizes that any public safety measures must comply with international human rights obligations, particularly the right to freedom of expression. The organisation reiterated concerns about journalist casualties and criticized the use of blanket communications blackouts, stating they “result in the indiscriminate and disproportionate limitation of the right to freedom of expression for those affected.”

In stark contrast, PEN Bangladesh has remained silent. Its president, Kazi Anis Ahmed, who is the brother of the ruling party member of parliament Kazi Nabil Ahmed, appeared to defend the government’s ferocious handling of the protests in a friends-only Facebook post reviewed by Netra News.

Echoing the ruling Awami League talking points, Ahmed — a business tycoon who also publishes the Dhaka Tribune newspaper, claimed, “Protesters have burnt down state properties. They are starting attacks without provocation (since last Wednesday). And now raising new demands. We are supposed to go on sympathizing with this violent mob and their shifting goalpost? That may still be the popular feeling – but not mine!”

“..those who are stoking the protests even now are no friends of the students — they have other agenda,” he concluded.

#KeepItOn coalition urges to keep the Internet on

#KeepItOn, a global civil society network consisting of over 300 organisations from 105 countries including Access Now, wrote to Asaduzzaman Khan (Minister of Home Affairs), Zunaid Ahmed Palak (State Minister of Posts Telecommunications and Information Technology) and Md. Mohiuddin Ahmed (Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission).

The coalition urged the Bangladesh government “to publicly commit and ensure that the people in Bangladesh have unfettered access to the internet, social media platforms, and other communication channels, to respect people’s rights enshrined in Bangladesh’s Constitution and the country’s international commitments.”

#KeepItOn cited sections of the Constitution and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that are being violated by the ongoing internet and telecommunications disruptions.

Violence in Gulshan

In addition to the areas around Dhaka where we have reported violence, eyewitnesses have confirmed frequent gunshots and explosions throughout the day in the upscale Gulshan neighbourhood.

EU “concerned” over Bangladesh violence

The Spokesperson for the European Union has officially addressed the situation in Bangladesh. The statement reads:

“The EU is deeply concerned by the violence and tragic loss of life that has occurred in the context of the protests in Bangladesh.

It is vital that further violence is averted and that a peaceful resolution to the situation is found as swiftly as possible, underpinned by the rule of law and democratic freedoms.”

At least 9 dead on Friday

Netra News is reporting at least nine deaths on July 19th, Friday, due to a ferocious crackdown by security forces and ruling party militias on student protesters, bringing the total number of deaths to at least 48.

The numbers are likely higher, as an ongoing Internet shutdown made it difficult for reporters to gather information.

Emirates cancels Bangladesh flights

Emirates has cancelled five flights to and from Dhaka scheduled for Friday, 19 July 2024, due to the “civil unrest” caused by the government’s brutal handling of ongoing student protests.

Additionally, Flydubai has announced revised departure times for Dhaka flights between 20 July 2024 and 23 July 2024.

News outlets remain inaccessible

We had reported yesterday that the Bangladesh Television (BTV), had stopped transmitting. It is still off the air, together with other news channels. The unavailability of newspapers’ websites, such as The Daily Star’s, remains widespread. Their social media feeds have also been affected.

Draft letter by US-based students seeks Biden’s intervention in Bangladesh

Over 500 Bangladeshi students at North American universities are planning to write a letter to US President Joe Biden, urging him to intervene in response to the Bangladesh government’s brutal handling of ongoing student protests that have claimed at least 39 lives.

Netra News has reviewed a copy of the letter’s draft, which calls on President Biden to “take immediate action” and “make a strong statement condemning the violence against students” in Bangladesh.

The signatories include students from prestigious institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

“We urge you to take immediate action, make a strong statement condemning the violence against students, call for immediate global action, and pressure the current Bangladesh/Awami League Government to put an end to the military-style violence, and take swift, peaceful steps to de-escalate this disaster,” the signatories wrote.

“We believe that mounting international pressure on the Bangladesh government is essential to halt the violence and restore peace.”

One signatory said the response was so overwhelming that the Google Document used for collecting signatures became overloaded and stopped functioning.

Central bank’s website taken over by activist hackers

The website (bb.org.bd) of the Bangladesh Bank appears to have been taken over by an activist hacker group that calls itself R3SISTANC3.

This group has previously taken over the official websites of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister’s Office (pmo.gov.bd), the Bangladesh Police (police.gov.bd), and the Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League party.

On Telegram, the activist group stated that their action was meant as an expression of solidarity with protesting students.

Death toll rises to 32, AFP reports

The death toll from the Bangladesh student protest rose to 32 in a single day on July 18th, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse, while the overall figure of total deaths stood at 39.

Reporters on the ground spoke to hospitals across the country to compile the list. Netra News had previously independently confirmed the deaths of at least 26 people on Thursday.

Bangladesh disconnected and unreachable from the world

Amid ongoing student protests and widespread violence, Bangladeshi authorities have completely shut down or severely restricted internet access throughout the country, effectively disconnecting the South Asian nation from the rest of the world.

Regular telecommunications, including cellular mobile and fixed-line telephony, also remain severely disrupted. Netra News was able to speak with several individuals inside the country, including a senior official at an internet service provider, to confirm the shutdown and disruption.

Netblocks, a London-based internet watchdog, also independently confirmed the shutdown in a post on X.

Prominent diaspora members release solidarity message

A group of diaspora members of Bangladeshi origin has released a statement in solidarity with the students protesting in Bangladesh.

The diaspora members expressed deep concern over the government’s response, which has included not only condescending remarks but also lethal force, resulting in at least 32 deaths and several hundred injuries.

“The students are our future. If we brutalize and traumatize them, the future of our nation, as an independent polity and a functional republic, may never recover,” the statement declared.

The statement also condemned the government’s decision to close various educational institutions across the country, likening the tactic to those used by military regimes in the 1960s and 1980s to suppress dissent. The diaspora members emphasized the importance of the students’ constitutionally enshrined right to freedom of speech and called for immediate reforms to the quota system. They demanded independent inquiries into the violent incidents and appropriate punishment for those responsible.

“We believe the freedom fighters of 1971 would have recoiled in horror to see their name and ideology being used to suppress the current youth of Bangladesh,” they asserted.

Read the full list of signatories here

Outages

Bangladesh Television (BTV), the state television channel, has stopped transmitting. In addition to this, the websites of several newspapers are currently down.

PMO, Bangladesh Police website hacked

Similar to the hacking of the official website of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BSL), the same group of hackers, identifying themselves as “THE R3SISTANC3”, has hacked the official website of the Prime Minister’s Office (pmo.gov.bd) and the Bangladesh Police: police.gov.bd.

The hackers have put up a banner on the landing page that reads: “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a war now!” and have marked it for the attention of “Law Enforcement, Political Groups and Citizens”.

However, as The Daily Star reports: “The Police Headquarters (PHQ) in a statement today said rumours are being spread regarding the hacking of the official website of Bangladesh Police.”

Well, we can see that the website has been defaced, here is the screenshot:

Nahid: “No dialogue over the blood of fallen heroes”

Md. Nahid Islam, a co-ordinator of the Anti-discrimination Students Movement, who has been leading the ongoing protests, has turned down the government’s call for a dialogue.

In a statement which he shared with us and later on his Facebook profile, as a prerequisite for a solution to the ongoing crisis, he asked the government to withdraw its forces; try the individuals responsible for the death of students during the protests; and, free the university campuses of Chhatra League’s terrorist activities.

“The government will have to bear the responsibility if […] the firing on the streets continues,” said Nahid. “I am urging the law enforcement agencies to stand beside the students instead of supporting this murderous government.”

He also urged the international community to come forward to save the people of Bangladesh, as the government is sponsoring a massacre on the streets. Fearing that he might be arrested or forcefully disappeared by tonight, he urged people to continue with their fight and storm into the campuses.

BSL website hacked

The official website of Bangladesh’s ruling party, Awami League’s notorious student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BSL), has been hacked by a group of hackers identifying themselves as “THE R3SISTANC3” in response to the student group’s brutal repression of the student protesters that saw dozens of deaths in the last three days. The hackers have put up a banner on the landing page that reads: “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a war now!”

Gov. proposal for talks rejected by the protesters

The Bangladeshi law minister, Anisul Haque, speaking at a press briefing, said the government now agrees to reform the quota system. He urged protesting students to cease agitation and consider withdrawing or suspending their movement, addressing them as “dear students,” according to Prothom Alo.

“The prime minister has welcomed their proposal for talks and has assigned me and Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury to engage with them. We are ready to meet them whenever they are willing, even if it is today,” said the law minister.

However, the protesters have rejected the call for dialogue.

“We no longer seek dialogue with the government — instead, we demand the immediate issuance of a gazette notification cancelling quotas in government jobs,” said Nazmul Hasan, a protest coordinator, in an interview with The Business Standard. “Earlier, we had placed our demands for quota reform, but the government didn’t listen to us. Our brothers have lost their lives during clashes.”

A quick background/summary

After the abolition of the discriminatory quota-based recruitment system by the Sheikh Hasina government following violent protests in 2018, the court reinstated the system on June 5th 2024, a few months after Hasina secured her fourth consecutive term in power.

This reinstatement has sparked street protests since early July, with students demanding the government not reintroduce the quota system. The situation escalated when Sheikh Hasina made a derogatory remark (calling the protesters progenies of “razakars”) on July 14th.

When students demanded an apology from Hasina, her loyal Chhatra League cadres, backed by the police, attacked the protesters, resulting in the deaths of six students on July 16th. In response, students expelled Chhatra League members from university dormitories, leading to further police intervention.

On July 17th, police attacked students during prayers for their fallen comrades, causing students to take to the streets. Indiscriminate police firing led to one death in Dhaka that day.

The following day, July 18th, students from private universities joined the protests, and police responded with force, killing at least three more students in the morning.

Army APC moving

We now have confirmed sightings of army armored personal carriers in and around Dhaka cantonment. No official confirmation yet of any military deployment.

The ongoing student protests in Bangladesh, led by public university students demanding reforms to the quota system, have seen significant developments in recent days. The ruling Awami League party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has responded with measures involving both Chhatra League cadres and state law enforcement forces.

Initially peaceful, the protests have escalated, resulting in at least ten deaths and numerous injuries. Prime Minister Hasina addressed the nation on Wednesday, which failed to ease tensions, and a brutal crackdown continued.

This live blog will provide updates throughout the day, curated by Netra News editors and a team of reporters on the ground. Additionally, some posts will be generated using ChatGPT AI, and these will be marked with the emoji.