At least 103 lives lost in three days of clash

At least 56 people died across the country in an unprecedented escalation of violence on Friday. Hundreds of people were injured during the clashes. Among the dead were protesters, students, journalists, pedestrians and political activists.

Death toll in Thursday and Friday reached at least 97 in the violent clashes. Six more people died earlier on Tuesday in clashes centering student protest demanding reform in quota system in government jobs. Till Friday, at least 103 people were confirmed death in three days (none died on Wednesday).

On Friday, a total of 44 were confirmed dead in capital Dhaka alone.  Different areas of Dhaka turned into battlegrounds on Friday, with Uttara, Jatrabari, Badda, Rampura, Mohakhali, Science Laboratory, Paltan, Mirpur-10, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Nilkhet and Old Dhaka areas most affected. Different government and private establishments were set ablaze.

Outside Dhaka, government establishments were attacked in Narayanganj, Bhairab in Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Madaripur and Cumilla. Offices and houses of Awami League and BNP leaders also came under attack.

Police fired huge amount of teargas shells, rubber bullets, stray bullets and sound granades to quell the protesters. The law enforcers also used choppers in many places to drop sound grenades and teargas shells at the protesters and douse the fire. Like Thursday, police, RAB and at least 300 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed on Friday. But these all failed to quell the violent protests. Curfew was imposed across the country and army deployed in aid to civil administration at night.

Mobile internet was shutdown throughout the country on Wednesday night. The broadband service was also shutdown from Thursday night. The protesters on Thursday night staged demonstrations in front of Grameen Phone office and vandalised a customer care center of Robi in Gulshan.
The scale of violence could not be fathomed fully and full picture of casualties could not be found due to violence and internet shutdown.  Online news portals could not publish news on Thursday.

The clashes over the quota reform movement started on Monday. Protesters and Bangladesh Chhatra League men clashed on Dhaka University on Monday. Later the ruling party student activists attacked protesters in different areas. The protesters were beaten indiscriminately.

Six protesters were killed the following day, Tuesday. Protests continued on Wednesday, but the day saw a respite in violence with none killed.  On Thursday, during ‘complete shutdown’ announced by the protesting students, violent clashes ensued across the country that left 41 dead.

Writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed told Prothom Alo that he never saw so many deaths of students and general people centering any movement in pre- or post-independence period. There were heavy casualties in 2014 centering the trail of war criminals, but that movement was political in nature.

He apprehended that the number of casualties may rise further as the complete picture cannot be availed right now.

Meanwhile, the streets of Dhaka were deserted on Friday morning. The report of violent clashes started to surface as the day progressed. Awami League hold a rally in front of its central office at Bangabandhu Avenue. In different areas of Dhaka, ruling party men joined in with law enforcers in attacking the protesters. They also came under attack.

BNP called a rally in front of National Press Club in city, which was foiled by police. Protest rallies of Ganatantra Mancha and Islami Andolon Bangladesh were also foiled and they clashed with police.

Earlier around 1:00pm, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) imposed ban on all types of rallies and demonstration in the city.

43 were confirmed dead in Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, Farazy Hospital in Rampura, Better Life Hospital and one in Uttara. The dead toll in other hospitals could not be known immediately.

As of 11:00pm on Friday, 25 bodies were brought to DMCH. This figure was gleaned upon talking with relatives, physicians and from seeing the register books.  Of the dead, Rakib Hossain, 22, from Munshiganj, was shot at Aftabnagar area. Md Goni Sheikh, 45, was shot at Shahjadpur area. An unidentified person, shot at Kajla area, was brought to the DMCH. 19-year-old Sohagh, was hit by bullet  at Shahjadpur area. He was declared dead at DMCH.

Arif, 18, was bullet-hit on his head at Jatrabari area. He would work at a restaurant at Jatrabari area. Pavel, 25, from Chandpur’s  Dokkhin Matlab, was bullet-hit at Paltan area.

Mobarak, 32, was hit at Kadamtali area. His brother Foizul Islam told Prothom Alo that Mobarak used to work at an electronics shop at Nababpur. He is from Kishoreganj’s Karimganj.

Akram Khan Rabbi, 24, was brought to DMCH and later declared dead. He was a student of MBA at Crown University. Dhaka College’s masters student Jihad, 22, was shot at Shonir Akhra area.  

Banker Dulal Mahmud, 40, was shot at Azimpur area on Thursday and died at DMCH on Friday morning. An unidentified person, 18, was shot at Bhatara area. Omar Faruque, 23, a third year student of Kabi Nazrul College, was shot at Lokkhibazar area of Old Dhaka.

Among other who either died or brought dead at DMCH are Abdul Wadud, Maruf Hossain, Mehedi Hasan, Saiful Islam, Robiul Islam, Ismail, Kamal Mia, Nobin Talukder, Imon, Sohel, Monsur, Sharif and two other unidentified persons.

DMCH authorities said some more bodies were brought there, which were being registered as of filing this report at night.  

Rampura Farazy Hospital’s deputy general manager Rubel Hossain told Prothom Alo Friday evening that three bodies were brought to the hospital. One of them is Rasel, while identities of two others could not be known.
“Over 200 injured persons were brought to our hospital after afternoon. We are grappling with this unprecedented number,” he added.

Better Life Hospital’s Dr Momtaz told Prothom ALo that five bodies were brought to the hospital. Of them, four were sent to DMCH while relatives took one body.  It can be noted that these four bodies sent to DMCH were not counted separately.

Authorities at two hospitals—Shahid Suhrawardy Hosptial and Mugda Hospital—confirmed receiving at least 14 bodies.

Suhrawardy Medical’s director Shafiur Rahman told Prothom Alo around 8:30pm on Friday that it cannot be told the exact figure of death. But the number is surely over 10.

Other than the aforementioned death toll, a person died at Uttara.

At least 12 people died outside Dhaka on Friday. One of them was injured on Thursday.

Three died in Rangpur, two in Madaripur, and one each in Mymensingh, Savar, Sylhet, Sirajganj, Bogura, Cox’s Bazar and Narsingdi.

Sajjad Hossain, 28, Mokhlesur Rahman Milon, 25, and Moon, 25, died in Rangpur.

Roman  Bepari, 32, and student Towhid, 20, died in Madaripur.

In Sirajganj, BNP’s president of ward no. 7, Abdur Rashid, 63, died. The person died in Bogura could not be identified. Chakria’s ward Chhatra League president Ehsanul Haque, 22, died in Cox’s Bazar.

Daily newspaper Naya Diganta’s Sylhet correspondent ATM Turab, 30, died in Sylhet. An unidentified person died in Narsingdi. A boy named Sagar, 16, died in Mymensingh and Al-Amin in Savar.

Sources from hospitals and relatives confirmed 27 deaths across the country till Thursday night. Later, 14 more deaths were confirmed on that day, taking the death tolls to 41.

Prothom Alo’s Gazipur correspondent of Friday visited seven hospitals at Uttara. These were Bangladesh-Kuwait Moitree Hospital, Crescent Hospital, Uttara Adhunik Medical College Hospital, Shahid Mansur Ali Medical College, Dhaka Specialised Hospital, Shin Shin Japan Hospital, Hi-care General and Specialised Hospital. Hospitals’ authorities said a total of 19 died and 926 injured persons received treatment at Uttara on Thursday.

The persons died or brought dead at Crescent Hospital are Mahmudul Hasan Rizvi, Mir Mahfuzur Rahman, Sabbir Rahman, Sheikh Fahmin Jafar and Tajul Islam.

Hospital’s manager Mahbub Alam told Prothom Alo that the victims had stray bullets and rubber bullets on their bodies.

Seven deaths were reported at Uttara’s Kuwait-Bangladesh Maitree Hospital on Thursday.

The deads include Jahiduzzaman Tanvin, Asif Hasan, Joshim, Hossain and Rob. Identities of the two others could not be known.

Six deaths were reported at Adhunik Medical College Hospital. They include Md Habib, Sakil Parvez, Sajib Sarker and Rahat Hossain. Identities of the two others could not be known.    

Jakaria Islam Jewel, husband of a nurse at Dhaka Specialized Hospital, died in the clash. He was brought dead at the hospital.

Six bodies were brought to DMCH between 10:00pm and 12 at night. Identities of two of them were known. They are Ismail, 40, and Al Amin Saimon, 25.

Saimon’s father Kamruzzaman told Prothom Alo that his son went out of home at around 5:00pm on Thursday. He identified son’s body at DMCH.
In total, at least 33 died in Dhaka on Thursday.

Al Masud Hasanuzzaman, Jahangirnagar University’s professor of government and politics department,  told Prothom Alo that deaths of so many people is unwarranted. So many deaths are abnormal in the history of Bangladesh. This situation is not acceptable at all.