Nearly hundred killed in unrest

Nearly a hundred people were killed and several hundred others injured as protesters and government supporters ran riot across Bangladesh Sunday amid fresh outbreaks of violence centring on students' non-cooperation movement.

Reports said anarchy reigned supreme in Sirajganj as a police station was torched and 13 policemen were beaten to death.

The government clamped down on "hooliganism by militants" with reinforcement of a nationwide indefinite curfew and a three-day closure from today, trying to restore order.

The Anti-discrimination Movement campaigners announced their decision to defy curfew and called student-people march on Dhaka for today to press for implementation of their one-point demand seeking resignation of the government.

Businesses shut amid the violence-ridden non-cooperation movement from Sunday while the country's foreign trade got disrupted as commercial lifeline through the Dhaka-Chattogram corridor remained blocked.

Students, police, Awami League men and people from different walks of life are among the nearly a hundred killed in the bloodletting confrontations.

A total of 14 policemen were killed on the worst day for the law-enforcement agency in memory-- 13 of them alone in Sirajganj, according to sources.

The total death toll in Sirajganj district was 23, including the policemen.

The toll of lives lost in Narsingdi was 6, all of who were ruling Awami League activists.

Also, 8 people each were killed in Feni and Laxmipur, 5 people in Kishoreganj, 10 people in Dhaka, 5 people in Bogura, 3 people in Munshiganj, 4 people in Magura, 3 people in Bhola, 4 in Rangpur. , 3 in Pabna, 5 in Sylhet, 3 including a policeman in Cumilla, 2 in Sherpur and 2 in Jaipurhat, one in Habiganj and one in Barishal, according to sources.

In the city, people by their thousands, including children and women, gathered and demonstrated at Shahbagh intersection as part of the noncooperation movement.

"The protesters from different parts of capital started to gather there at around 10:30 am. They were chanting various slogans demanding resignation of the government," says a firsthand account of the scenes.

The police were stationed in front of Shahbagh Police Station. A group of protesters positioned in front of the station, requesting others not to approach the police station.

But sporadic clashes between the protesters on the one side and Jubo League and Chhatra League activists on the other side of the divide took place in Shahbag area. A good number of vehicles, including ambulance, motorcycle and private car, were also set on fire on the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) premises as a section of the protesters ran riot around the crossroads.

A bystander, Arifur Rahman, said at around 11:00 am a group of people, who were carrying sticks, rods and local weapons, stormed into the BSMMU premises through the backside gate of the important healthcare facilities, suddenly attacked and burnt 10-15 motorcycles.

"Even they burnt two-three ambulances, staff buses and escaped through the western-side gate," Mr Rahman said, adding that identity of the invaders seemed cloaked in mystery.

A picketer, Tariqul Islam, said they (protesters) were staying in Shahbagh area to protest and press home their one-point demand.

"BCL activists came to attack us. However, they were chased back into BSMMU in the face of our resistance," said Mr Islam, adding that the vehicles were set on fire to blame the protesters.

According to information available with the Fire Control room, the marauders torched 11 buses on the BSMMU premises.

The BCL activists took shelter on the roof of a BSMMU building close to the Shahbag intersection and hurled brick chips, he said.

Shahbagh area started becoming the center-point of the protests in the capital city on Sunday as agitating students and protesters from all walks of life started rallying in the area from 10 am.

A good number of demonstrators also took position in neighbouring areas, including Bata Signal, Science Lab, Bangla Motor, Motso Bhaban intersection.

They were shouting slogans asking the government to resign and they condemned the "mass killing of innocent people across the country".

Leaders-activists of Jubo League and Chatra League took position near the Saarc Fountain on the intersection to intimidate picketers who were positioned near Bangla Motor area.

There had been frequent chase and counter- chase between them since morning and the area turned into a battlefield around 4.00pm.

"Police were seen hurling sound grenades and tear shells to take control of the situation," says a firsthand report.

Chase and counter-chase dispersed in the lanes and by-lanes, causing panic among the traders, buyers and other people in those areas.

"The frequent hue and cry as well as sound of explosions-probably tear shell and sound grenade-have created a horrible ambience here," a shopkeeper near Kawranbazar Metro station, Bazlur Rahman, told the FE.

There were active presence by the Awami League activists in earlier days of this recent chaos, but it was the first time deadly clashes took place there, added Mr Rahman.

The protesters started leaving the hospital at around 11:15 AM. By 11:30 AM, the protesters had left the hospital premises and gathered at Shahbagh intersection, chanting slogans with a single demand. They also shouted, "Why did my brother die? The administration must answer".

Later, the protesters took control of the Shahbagh area, Central Shaheed Minar, TSC, and the surrounding areas of Dhaka University.

On Sunday, the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), fully backed the students' single-point demand for the government to step down.

The party also urged everyone to support the protesters.

During a press conference at the BNP Chairperson's office in Gulshan, Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called on the government to resign amid widespread public unrest.

Fakhrul said the whole nation supports the students' demand for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and for power to be handed over to a neutral government.

"The BNP stands in full solidarity with the students and the public in their one-point demand," he stated.

He called on democracy-loving people, BNP members, and supporters to join the students in the streets to push for the removal of the current government, which he described as "autocratic".

Fakhrul also urged all political parties, organizations, professionals, workers, farmers, and the general public to support the noncooperation movement.

He noted that there is a wave of mass uprisings across the country, including in Dhaka, against the government.

Awami League Presidium Member Jahangir Kabir Nanak commented that the Awami League reached the limits of its patience.

He stated that "patience should not be seen as weakness".

On Sunday afternoon, Nanak briefed journalists at Awami League President Sheikh Hasina's political office in Dhanmondi.

He said that the chaos created by the 'BNP-Jamaat militant groups' must be resisted.

He called on the people of the country to stand against this anarchy.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement announced a 'Long March to Dhaka' scheduled for Monday.

They have called on people from all walks of life to converge on Dhaka and take to the streets demanding resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government.

The announcement was made on Sunday by Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, two coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests.

The announcement says: "Hasina killed mercilessly around 50 students and ordinary people on Sunday. Therefore, the time has arrived to give a decisive reply. Those who live in districts adjacent to Dhaka should come to the capital, and if possible, set out for Dhaka on Sunday. After arriving, gather in the streets of the capital. Students and ordinary people will stage an uprising for the birth of a new Bangladesh".

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