Dhaka: For Samir Hossain, a 24-year-old student at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a simple grocery run to a nearby store turned into a hassle last Sunday (July 28).
The South Asian nation, home to around 170 million people, has been in turmoil for the past two weeks following a student-led movement that turned deadly, with over 200 lives lost due to the government’s heavy-handed response to the protests.
With an ongoing curfew and hundreds of student protesters being detained, young people like Hossain are living in constant fear of police harassment. So, when he was stopped by a patrol car at the Mirpur-10 intersection in the capital, he chose to identify himself as an apprentice lawyer rather than a student.
“What could be more disheartening? I had to conceal my identity as a student, as if students are treated as criminals in this country,” he lamented.
This incident is far from unique. Many, unlike Hossain, were unable to evade the security forces.
In the past few days, following a series of extensive raids by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in response to the quota reform protests, 2,630 individuals have been arrested, The Business Standard reported.
According to DMP sources, over 85% of those detained are students and ordinary citizens, while the remainder includes leaders and activists from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat, and other political parties.
On Monday, as students took to the streets in defiance of a curfew, police conducted a widespread crackdown, resulting in some distressing scenes. One heart-wrenching moment involved a mother frantically seeking help in front of a police van that had detained her son.
She was seen sitting in the street, tearfully pleading, “My son isn’t even a university student. I just sent him to the market. Why are the police taking him? Please, tell them to release my son. Please.”
Similarly, another young man in his early 20s was heard begging, “Uncle, please let me go… I have a little sister at home that I need to care for. Please let me go.” Despite his desperate pleas, he was forcibly dragged into a prison van by a group of 8 to 10 policemen.
Local media reports indicate that at least 200 university students were detained on Monday during their protest.
This unrest follows a tragic week in which at least 211 people were killed in student-led demonstrations demanding job quota reforms in the South Asian country.
Why is the anger still boiling?
Amid a nationwide curfew, internet blackout, and military presence on the streets, an expedited apex court ruling has drastically reduced the quota from 56% to just 7%.
The nation, however, was dissatisfied with the reforms achieved at such a high cost, and the protesters refused to back down. They demanded nine specific points, including an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power for a fourth consecutive term since January.
Instead of caving into student’s demands, the Hasina administration took a heavy-handed approach. Her security forces have reportedly carried out block raids throughout the past week, even in the absence of active demonstrations nationwide.
Earlier on Sunday, six coordinators of the quota reform protests, who had been detained by the Detective Branch (DB) under the guise of ensuring their ‘safety’ — with some even taken from their hospital beds — released a video statement announcing the cancellation of all protest activities.
This statement has sparked widespread online debate, with many claiming it was issued under “coercion”.
Rejecting these “coerced statements,” other protest leaders have called for nationwide demonstrations on Monday, accusing the government of compelling detained leaders to make scripted statements under duress.
While students responded to the call, they were unable to organise significant demonstrations across the country due to security forces preventing them from holding any processions and arresting them without provocation.
Protest coordinator Abdul Quader told reporters on Monday that “students did not come out in large numbers today because the government has fostered a climate of fear through nighttime raids, phone checks, interrogations, and widespread detentions.”
During a virtual press conference, this coordinator of the anti-discrimination student movement asserted that over 3,500 students have been detained across the country in the past week.
How fear grips the city?
Residents in various neighbourhoods of Dhaka meanwhile have recounted harrowing experiences of nighttime raids.
“Security forces have been conducting raids across neighbourhoods and making mass arrests, particularly targeting students and Opposition activists in Dhaka,” said Amnesty International in a statement.
“The whereabouts of some of those detained remain unknown. Several student leaders have been apprehended from hospitals where they were receiving treatment for injuries,” it added.
According to The Daily Star, during these raids, joint forces cut internet connections and turned off street lights in targeted areas, fostering an atmosphere of fear and confusion.
Islam, 35, who preferred to give only his middle name, described the situation like this: “Law enforcement vehicles descend on neighbourhoods, often after sunset. Officers jump out with their guns drawn, quickly cordon off the area, and position themselves at various points. Anyone they find on the streets, seemingly aged 18 to 25, has their phones checked, is subjected to abuse and physical violence, and some are detained.”
“They [plainclothes officers] knock on doors, enter homes, inspect mobile phones, and act very rudely. They take photos of the interior of the rooms. If they find any connection to the protests, they arrest the person,” said a middle-aged man whose nephew was detained on July 26 in the Bashundhara Residential Area of the capital.
The man, who requested anonymity for his nephew’s safety, reported that the officers took the young man in front of his parents, who are now in a state of shock. Since the incident, the family has checked with all nearby police stations but has found no trace of him.
“If they don’t find the suspect, they often arrest family members instead. In some cases, searchlights from helicopters are even used during these operations,” Islam added.
During these raids, officers sometimes forcibly enter apartments, multiple sources confirmed. The joint forces are also accused of using additional manpower, splitting into teams to conduct simultaneous raids on multiple homes.
At least eight areas in the capital— Matuyail, Shonir Akhra, Jatrabari, Kajla, Bashundhara, Shaheenbagh, Mirpur DOHS, ECB Chattar, and Matikata — have reported such raids, according to local newspaper Prothom Alo.
Residents, many still traumatised by the recent violence, are now living in constant fear. Numerous families have already left their homes and are waiting to escape Dhaka.
“We saw police vans and other vehicles surrounding our area. Officers instructed students to line up on the street. The street lights were off, but their headlights were trained on us. They said they wouldn’t arrest us at that moment but warned us to leave Dhaka within three days,” a private university student told the reporter.
To support their studies, many students work as tutors, making it difficult for them to leave Dhaka. “When we explained this, some officers beat us and told us to stay silent,” he added.
Even during the day, security forces were observed checking the mobile phones of many young adults at various city intersections. Veteran lawyer Shahdeen Malik criticised this, stating, “Privacy is a fundamental constitutional right. Such actions by the security forces are inconsistent with the constitution and the law.”
Social media is full with pleas from the families
Meanwhile, social media feeds are inundated with posts from the brothers, sisters and relatives of missing students, seeking help and sharing their concerns.
Prothom Alo reported on Monday that over 9,000 people have been arrested nationwide in the past eleven days.
The actual numbers may be higher, as many detentions are not officially recorded, according to protest coordinator Quader.
DMP joint commissioner (crime) Liton Kumar Saha told reporters on Monday that their “raids are ongoing in various areas of the capital to apprehend those responsible for the violence, and this will continue until all the perpetrators are identified.”
“We are conducting these block raids to arrest four types of suspects: those who ordered the violence, funded it, supplied weapons, and participated in it,” the officer added.
However, many locals and students allege that law enforcement agencies are “specifically targeting students and conducting illegal mobile phone checks.”
“The police and other forces are actively searching for students. If they find one, they inspect their phone, which is illegal,” said Rahman, who requested to keep his full name confidential for security reasons.
On Monday, a group of teachers from various universities across Bangladesh took to the streets to demand an end to the harassment of students through mass arrests and the immediate release of those detained.
Professor Kamrul Hasan Mamun from the Department of Physics at Dhaka University said, “Students are being detained during block raids. It would be unjust not to protest against this, especially when we are aware of it.”
They also called for the incidents resulting in the death of over two hundred people, including students, during the quota reform movement to be termed the “July Massacre.”
According to Prothom Alo, the death toll from the protests has reached at least 211, with students and workers being the most affected. Among the 150 victims analysed, at least 45 were students from various public and private universities, schools, and colleges, with up to 75% (113) being children, teenagers, and young adults (ages four to 29).
Clashes erupted in Dhaka and other parts of the country on July 15, with no fatalities reported that day. The violence escalated in the following days, with multiple deaths occurring on July 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21.
The government has reported a death toll of 150, with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan stating, “Our investigation is ongoing, and the number may rise.”
* Name changed for privacy reasons.