Bangladesh Security Forces Target Unarmed Students - HRW

New York / Bonn, July 22 (HRW/OurVoice): More than 160 people have been killed in protests across Bangladesh since early July as the government has deployed the army against student protesters, imposed shoot-on-sight curfew orders, and shut down the internet. 

Human Rights Watch in its weekly alert added, thousands of university students took to the streets earlier this month to peacefully protest a recent Supreme Court ruling restoring quotas in government jobs for various categories of people. On July 15, members of a student group affiliated with the government ruing party and backed by police attacked the protesters, killing six people.

Protests spread to several cities and universities across the country following the attack, leading to deadly clashes between protesters and the pro-government supporters and security forces. Security forces have used live ammunition, tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and shotgun pellets to disperse protesters. 

With the internet shut down, reliable information is hard to get; the police and hospitals have reportedly recorded 163 deaths, but activists fear the number is much higher. 

“I have never seen such cruelty,” a Dhaka resident who recently left the country told Human Rights Watch. “The security forces just kept on shooting. They were shooting at such young people. They even shot at bystanders if they tried to help protect the students.”

The authorities have arrested hundreds of protest participants and organizers, and there are allegations of enforced disappearances and torture in custody.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised an investigation into the July 15 killings, although also referred to protesters as “political traitors” in one statement. Meanwhile, a student leader on July 22 declared a 48-hour halt to the protests, calling on the government to end the curfew, restore access to the internet, and stop targeting the student protesters.

Bangladeshi authorities have long flouted international standards and continue to do so during these ongoing demonstrations. Now is the time for influential governments to press Sheikh Hasina’s government to stop their forces from brutalizing students and other protesters.