[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.]
By
Maria Abi-Habib
 |
|
Students demonstrating in
Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday. What began as a
road-safety protest by schoolchildren after a deadly bus accident
has now
lasted nine days, and the police are responding with force. CreditMunir
Uz Zaman/ Agence France-Presse —
Getty Images
|
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 the 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 the
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, the 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 the 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 plowed into a crowd of waiting
would-be passengers.
Students, some accompanied by their parents,
responded by erecting checkpoints across the city, forcing motorists —
including police officers and government ministers — to produce valid drivers
licenses 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 to the protests was
initially cautious, but the police began to use force against protesters on
Saturday.
For many, the bus crash has come to symbolize
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 the 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. The World Health Organization estimates that the country’s
road-traffic death rate in 2013 was 13.6 deaths per 100,000 people, lower than
in India or Pakistan but far higher than in America or Europe.
On Monday, in an effort to contain the
protests, the government endorsed a draft law to increase the maximum sentence
for fatal road accidents to five years from three. But protesters say the
problem is largely about poor implementation of existing laws.
Clashes intensified as Monday evening
approached.
University students largely sat out last
week’s protests, but have been protesting for months about a quota system for
government jobs and university spots that they claim is plagued by nepotism and
corruption. When the police began to use force, the university students decided
to link their cause to those of their peers in middle and high schools.
Mr. Waraich of Amnesty International
suggested that the government’s sudden use of force reflected anxiety about the
Awami League’s electoral prospects.
“I think they are worried that any protests
against the government could bring the opposition out on the street,” he said.
“They want to crush these protests immediately — they see them for not just
what they are but what they could be. As elections loom, they are nervous about
people coming out into the streets.”
Mr. Alam, the photojournalist, was detained
on Sunday night after posting a Facebook video about the protest and giving an
interview to the television news network Al Jazeera criticizing the violence of
the government’s response.
His wife, Rahnuma Ahmed, said at a news
conference on Monday that about 35 men in civilian clothes had forced him into
an unmarked car, which then drove away. She said he had been taken by the
Detective Branch, part of the police force, which she accused of confiscating
nearby CCTV cameras that recorded the arrest.
The police confirmed on Monday that they had
detained Mr. Alam.
The Associated Press said at least five
journalists had been attacked at the protests on Sunday, including one of its
photographers, who was briefly hospitalized with a head injury.
“Bangladesh authorities must immediately
release Shahidul Alam without charge,” said Steven Butler, the Asia program
coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Authorities should also
ensure that Alam and all journalists covering unrest in Dhaka are able to work
without fear of attack or arrest.”
