In early July, the high council of Bangladesh instated a job quota that reserves one-third of civil rights jobs for children of fighters who acted during the liberation movement in 1971. This left few jobs for others, with 400,000 students in Bangladesh competing for 3,000 civil service jobs every year.ย
Angered by this quota, Bangladeshi students began peaceful protests in the streets of Bangladesh.ย Students of Bangladesh had several demands for the government, most involving the resignation of government figures, including the now ex-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. On Aug. 5, Hasina resigned from her position. The new interim government, ran by Muhammad Yunus, a civil society leader, is now in power.ย
Israt Urbi, the third-year director of events for Wilfrid Laurier Universityโs Bangladeshi Studentsโ Association (BSA), who attended the protests, explained how police began to open fire at student protestors.
โI wasnโt even sure what was going on, that kind of tells you how peaceful it was. We werenโt even aware that there was a protest. But then, we started hearing things like โOh, students are getting shot,โโ she said.
Security forces sent by the Chhatra League, one of Bangladeshโs political parties, began assaulting students using live ammunition, tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and shotgun pellets.
Students were injured, shot and beaten in an attempt to disperse the protests.
โI went outside onto our balcony, I looked up โ I saw a helicopter, and they were shooting from the helicopters,โ said Urbi.
Among the students was Abu Sayed, an English student at Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur.ย On July 16, he was shot dead by police officers in broad daylight, unarmed and with his arms outstretched to the sky.ย Police fired a round of tear gas into the crowd and while some students left, Sayed stayed.ย
He was shot four times from a distance of 50 feet away and died before he was taken to the hospital. Sayed is one of many students who died during these protests.
During this protest, the government suspended mobile internet, Wi-Fi services, cell services and imposed an indefinite curfew of 2 p.m. to 5 a.m. in an effort to crush the protests.ย They refused to acknowledge the mass killings of students was taking place, cutting off the satellite of non-corrupt TV channels and censoring media outlets who reported on the events. ย
โPolice announced through the media that if they saw anyone outside past these curfew hours, they would shoot on sight,โ said Safdar Shukur a second-year Bachelor of Science Student at Laurier and president of the BSA.
Hasina had been in office for two decades, though both the U.K. and U.S. government officials have made public statements that her election into power was not credible.
She has also been convicted of several crimes, including the alleged theft of over $34 million.ย Hasina has a warrant for her arrest and has fled the country. ย
Urbi attended one of the final protests before the resignation of Hasina.
Around 100,000 students circled together in a field surrounded by their parents while protestors screamed their demands, lit surrounding objects on fire and held posters displaying names of the dead.
They then joined together in song, singing the famous โDhawno Dhanyoโ by Dwijendralal Ray for their country.
โI still get goosebumps when I think about it, I was crying the whole time, it was a surreal experience. I was scared the whole time, except when we started singing,โ said Urbi.
The BSA would like to acknowledge the misinformation that Hindu minorities are being harassed in Bangladesh and that Muhammad Yunus is making it a priority.