(17 Jul 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 17 July 2024
1. Various of protesters enact a funeral of six people killed at protests
2. Various of protesters carrying coffins amid sound of blasts
3. Various of police, protesters fleeing
4. SOUNDBITE (Bengali) Sarjis Alam, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement:
“We were returning after the funeral, we were leaving campus. They set off sound grenades, blasted home-made explosives, and lobbed tear gas at us. What is the reason for all of this? If the administration doesn’t want to cooperate, how will the protests remain peaceful?"
5. Various of police firing tear gas and rubber bullets
6. Protesters throwing stones
7. SOUNDBITE (Bengali) Hasnat Abdullah, coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement:
“They can make their decisions after killing us. We are ready to be killed right now. If they want to kill us they can do it. We were always ready for discussion, we always proposed discussion. But now they will need to take any decisions only after killing us.”
8. Various of police entering Dhaka University residence area
9. Various of students leaving the university
STORYLINE:
Bangladeshi police fired tear gas to break up demonstrations in Dhaka on Wednesday after at least six people died in violent campus protests.
At Dhaka University police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who carried empty coffins to represent the people killed, witnesses said.
Paramilitary forces patrolled the streets of the capital and other big cities.
Police also clashed with supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in Dhaka after a funeral Wednesday for the six people who died.
A police official said they used rubber bullets to disperse the protesters, who they said attacked police, and several opposition activists were arrested.
Several major universities in Bangladesh agreed to shut their doors Wednesday.
The campus protests are over government job allocations, and police raided the main opposition party’s headquarters, which led to student protesters announcing a total shutdown of all but essential services.
After two days of clashes, the University Grants Commission urged all public and private universities to close until further notice, and about a dozen major public universities said they would, according to officials and media reports.
Wednesday was a public holiday in Bangladesh, so the actual number of universities that closed was expected to become clearer on Thursday.
Among them was Dhaka University, which was at the center of the violence.
It has suspended classes and closed its dormitories indefinitely, a university official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
On Wednesday, the protesters announced they would enforce “a complete shutdown” across the country on Thursday in response to security officials’ continued attacks on the campus demonstrators.
Protesters are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.
They argue that the system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.
Quotas were halted by a court order after mass student protests in 2018.
That court order has since been suspended, but the protests continued, turning violent this week.
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