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Bangladeshi students bring Dhaka to a standstill with protests over road safety

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Protesting high school students have blocked major intersections in Bangladesh’s congested capital Dhaka for five straight days, choking traffic and vandalizing vehicles as they demonstrate against a bus accident that killed two teens.

Authorities have urged an end to the protests, as the students’ outrage paralyzes the city of 18 million. Police have reportedly fired tear gas and blanks in an effort to disperse the crowds, and on Thursday, protests turned violent with several reported assaults.

Marches and sit-ins along main thoroughfares have rendered Dhaka’s daily gridlock impassable. The U.S. and Australia embassies warned of significant delays and disruptions.

Students marched through city streets demanding to see people’s driving licenses and parading through the streets chanting “we want justice.” The government shut down high schools, according to Agence France-Presse, and officials promised the teens their road safety concerns would be considered.


But students showed no signs of abandoning their demonstration.

“They should have taken our demands seriously, but they didn’t,” Imran Ahmed, a protesting student, told AFP.

Bangladeshi students protest in Dhaka on Aug. 2, 2018.
Bangladeshi students protest in Dhaka on Aug. 2, 2018. Mehedi Hasan—NurPhoto/Getty Images
The protest began Sunday after a bus racing for passengers reportedly struck a group of waiting college students, killing two and injuring several others.

Dhaka’s buses are notoriously unregulated and accident-prone. Operated by competing private companies, the coaches race to get to waiting passengers first.

Research from the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways found that more than 4,200 people were killed in road accidents last year, with most of the fatalities caused by reckless drivers.

To change the status quo, agitated students issued nine demands, including capital punishment for irresponsible driving, according to local broadcaster bdnews24.

Until their demands are met, students have reportedly taken up enforcing traffic laws on their own, stopping driver for license checks.

Bus companies have responded by taking their vehicles off the road, leaving commuters stranded.

On Thursday, a traffic sergeant refused to show his driving license, prompting students to seize his motorbike and set it on fire, according to the Dhaka Tribune.


Attempting to defuse the standoff escalating across multiple parts of the city, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reportedly agreed Thursday to implement the nine-point demands.

Traffic authorities have already met some of the stipulations, and will soon install footbridges near schools and adopt tougher enforcement measures against drivers without proper licenses, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, according to the Tribune.

“They will set up check posts at each point in the city from where buses set off,” he said.

He called on the students to stop playing vigilante traffic cops.

“In the last five days 317 vehicles have been vandalized and eight burned. We are urging you not to continue this,” he said.

http://time.com/5357019/bangladesh-student-protests-road-safety/
 
Dhaka's commuter buses are more reckless than Delhi's infamous Blueline buses back in the days, that is saying something. And the accident that set the protests off killed 5 students, not 2 as officially reported.
 
115 students injured in clashes as Bangladesh teen protests turn violent

DHAKA: More than 100 people were injured in Bangladesh Saturday after police fired rubber bullets at students protesters, a doctor and witnesses said, a major escalation in a stand-off between the government and demonstrators.

For the last week students have brought parts of the capital Dhaka to a standstill with a protest against poor road safety after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

Bangladesh's transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated and dangerous, and as news of the teenagers´ deaths spread rapidly on social media they became a catalyst for an outpouring of anger against the government.

On Saturday the protests took a violent turn in Dhaka´s Jigatala neighborhood.

Witnesses said police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators and that alleged pro-government activists attacked youngsters, including some of those rushing to nearby hospitals for treatment.

Police denied they fired rubber bullets or tear gas at the protesters.

"It's not true. Nothing happened at Jigatola," Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP.

However hospital staff said dozens of people had been injured, some seriously.

"We have treated more than 115 injured students so far since the afternoon," emergency ward doctor Abdus Shabbir told AFP, adding some sported injuries consistent with rubber bullets.

"A few of them were in very bad condition," he added.

A protester said students were holding protests peacefully on the road when they were attacked.

"We all are feeling threatened here. We wanted a peaceful protest. We don´t want any trouble occurring around here. Yet rubber bullets were shot at our brothers," Sabbir Hossain, a student, said.

Road transport minister Obaidul Quader rejected allegations that party cadres from the ruling Awami League party had attacked the students.

He said the party office which was close to Jigatala was vandalised by some unidentified youths, dressed in school uniforms, moments before the clashes erupted.

An AFP photographer at the scene of one the clashes saw students and unidentified young adult men fighting with sticks and rocks, leaving several wounded.

Growing discontent
The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009, but in recent months it has been shaken by mass protests demanding an end to a decades-old system of discriminatory civil service recruitment.

Several powerful ministers have pleaded with students to return to their classes, amid worries the unprecedented teen outrage could turn into widespread anti-government protests ahead of general elections due later this year.

But their pleas have had little effect.

Earlier on Saturday thousands of students wearing school uniforms defied rain to block major intersections in the capital for the seventh consecutive day.

Teens as young as 13 were seen on Dhaka´s notoriously clogged roadways checking whether cars and buses had valid licenses and were in a roadworthy condition.

"We won´t leave the roads until our demands are met. We want safe roads and safe drivers," said protester Al Miran.

An insensitive comment by Shajahan Khan, a government minister with ties to powerful transport unions, only poured oil onto the fire earlier in the week.

Khan questioned why there was such an uproar over the two Dhaka children but no reaction when 33 people were killed in an Indian bus crash the day before.

There have been widespread social media demands for the minister´s resignation despite his subsequent apology.

The education ministry shut down high schools on Thursday in an effort to quell unrest, promising students their demands for road safety reforms would be considered.

Dhaka suffers from daily gridlock but congestion has been exacerbated by blockades set up across the city since Sunday.

The embassies of the US and Australia warned of significant delays and disruptions as a result of the protests across Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/206086-11...shes-as-bangladesh-teen-protests-turn-violent
 
Saw most of my Bangladeshi friends having their profile pics updated with support for nirapod sorok chai movement.
 
Today police combined with government thugs to attack students, reports of some girl students abducted and raped.....

So to stop people sharing their outrage the government has ordered ISPs to slow down internet speed ......
 
Today police combined with government thugs to attack students, reports of some girl students abducted and raped.....

So to stop people sharing their outrage the government has ordered ISPs to slow down internet speed ......

Is the current Bangladesh regime popular among Bangladeshis? How do they keep electing this tyrant?
 
Is the current Bangladesh regime popular among Bangladeshis? How do they keep electing this tyrant?

My knowledge is limited but apparently there's no major third party in Bangladesh besides the two main parties, so people have little choice.
 
My knowledge is limited but apparently there's no major third party in Bangladesh besides the two main parties, so people have little choice.

There is no 2nd party anymore, the BNP has been destroyed, some of it due to their own faults.

The current govt is unpopular, but do have their elements of support.

Also the army and police are firmly in their camp
 
There is no 2nd party anymore, the BNP has been destroyed, some of it due to their own faults.

The current govt is unpopular, but do have their elements of support.

Also the army and police are firmly in their camp

the army is the most patriotic institution in a country, so if they are supporting awami league, they must be doing something right.
 
This has to be worse than '71 because this is Bangladeshis killing and violating their own people, and it's the same govt that created Bangladesh.
 
Massive Protest In Bangladesh Capital Against Sheikh Hasina's Government

Nearly 100,000 supporters of Bangladesh's main opposition party descended on Dhaka Saturday to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections.

"Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief," they chanted at the Golapbagh sports ground where the rally was held as the crowd spilled into surrounding streets.

All seven opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs announced their resignations from parliament at the event, which will leave the legislature largely a rubber stamp -- Hasina's party already had more than a two-thirds majority.

Western governments and the United Nations have expressed concerns over the political climate in Bangladesh.

It is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia but the Ukraine war has forced the government to suspend gas and diesel imports, while power cuts and fuel price hikes have triggered demonstrations in recent months.

The Bangladeshi taka has depreciated by up to 25 percent, driving up the cost of food imports and hitting poor and lower middle class people.

Autorickshaw driver Russel Miah joined the rally to express anger at rising prices of food and other commodities, which he said had left him struggling to provide his family with three meals a day.

"I am a victim of oppression," he said. "I came here today to protest against the people who are responsible for my current situation."

None of Bangladesh's half-dozen television news stations carried live coverage of the event, raising suspicions authorities had pressured them not to.

A BNP official claimed that hundreds of thousands of people had joined the rally by mid-morning.

"Our main demand is Sheikh Hasina resign and parliament is dissolved and let a neutral caretaker government step in to hold a free and fair election," spokesman Zahiruddin Swapan told AFP.

A senior security officer speaking on condition of anonymity estimated the crowd at up to 80,000 people.

There had been no violence so far but SWAT teams, counter-terrorism units and canine squads were on standby, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruq Ahmed.

- 'We want freedom' -

Tension was high in the capital after security forces stormed the BNP headquarters on Tuesday, leaving at least one person dead and scores injured.

Two of the party's top leaders were arrested on Friday on charges of inciting the violence, adding to the roughly 2,000 activists and supporters the party said had been detained since November 30 to try to prevent the rally from going ahead.

The opposition has been holding protests around the country and Hasina has rejected outright their demands for her resignation and an election under a caretaker government.

Police set up checkpoints on routes into Dhaka and security was tight across the sprawling metropolis of 20 million people on Saturday. Another police officer said up to 3,000 policemen were deployed outside the rally ground to ensure security.

Only a handful of cycle rickshaws and cars plied Dhaka's normally congested roads, with BNP officials accusing the government of triggering an unofficial transport strike to try to prevent people from joining the rally.

The country's leading Bengali daily newspaper Prothom Alo said ruling party student cadres beat at least 10 BNP supporters, searched their mobile phones and handed them over to police.

Mohammad Alamgir, a businessman who travelled from the southern island of Bhola to attend the protest, said: "I don't support any political party. We want freedom from the current situation."

NDTV
 
Massive Protest In Bangladesh Capital Against Sheikh Hasina's Government

Nearly 100,000 supporters of Bangladesh's main opposition party descended on Dhaka Saturday to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections.

"Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief," they chanted at the Golapbagh sports ground where the rally was held as the crowd spilled into surrounding streets.

All seven opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs announced their resignations from parliament at the event, which will leave the legislature largely a rubber stamp -- Hasina's party already had more than a two-thirds majority.

Western governments and the United Nations have expressed concerns over the political climate in Bangladesh.

It is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia but the Ukraine war has forced the government to suspend gas and diesel imports, while power cuts and fuel price hikes have triggered demonstrations in recent months.

The Bangladeshi taka has depreciated by up to 25 percent, driving up the cost of food imports and hitting poor and lower middle class people.

Autorickshaw driver Russel Miah joined the rally to express anger at rising prices of food and other commodities, which he said had left him struggling to provide his family with three meals a day.

"I am a victim of oppression," he said. "I came here today to protest against the people who are responsible for my current situation."

None of Bangladesh's half-dozen television news stations carried live coverage of the event, raising suspicions authorities had pressured them not to.

A BNP official claimed that hundreds of thousands of people had joined the rally by mid-morning.

"Our main demand is Sheikh Hasina resign and parliament is dissolved and let a neutral caretaker government step in to hold a free and fair election," spokesman Zahiruddin Swapan told AFP.

A senior security officer speaking on condition of anonymity estimated the crowd at up to 80,000 people.

There had been no violence so far but SWAT teams, counter-terrorism units and canine squads were on standby, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruq Ahmed.

- 'We want freedom' -

Tension was high in the capital after security forces stormed the BNP headquarters on Tuesday, leaving at least one person dead and scores injured.

Two of the party's top leaders were arrested on Friday on charges of inciting the violence, adding to the roughly 2,000 activists and supporters the party said had been detained since November 30 to try to prevent the rally from going ahead.

The opposition has been holding protests around the country and Hasina has rejected outright their demands for her resignation and an election under a caretaker government.

Police set up checkpoints on routes into Dhaka and security was tight across the sprawling metropolis of 20 million people on Saturday. Another police officer said up to 3,000 policemen were deployed outside the rally ground to ensure security.

Only a handful of cycle rickshaws and cars plied Dhaka's normally congested roads, with BNP officials accusing the government of triggering an unofficial transport strike to try to prevent people from joining the rally.

The country's leading Bengali daily newspaper Prothom Alo said ruling party student cadres beat at least 10 BNP supporters, searched their mobile phones and handed them over to police.

Mohammad Alamgir, a businessman who travelled from the southern island of Bhola to attend the protest, said: "I don't support any political party. We want freedom from the current situation."

NDTV

Yes. There's a big protest going on.

Many arrests happened.

Current government is in power illegally. They rigged elections and whatnot. People have had enough after economy tanked.
 
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