Police actions reignited 'temporarily ebbed' protests, ousting govt: UN report

The UN rights office (OHCHR) has said a chain of events from mid July to early August 2024 culminated in the ouster of the past regime and in the last days of the uprising security forces actions reignited a "temporarily ebbed" street protest.

The OHCHR report said the Supreme Court decision addressing students demand over quota system was too late to soothe protesters and the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina's address ahead of apex court order appeared "insincere" to the protest leaders.

"In an apparent attempt to mollify the protestors, on 16 July 2024, the former government filed leave to appeal (against) the High Court's quota decision that had originally triggered the protests," it said.

On the evening of the next day, the report recalled, the deposed premier in a public address asked students to patiently await an expectedly positive Supreme Court decision and claimed that "police cooperated to ensure the safety of our protesters."

"(But) The Prime Minister's address appeared insincere to protest leaders," read the fact finding report on "Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh" released earlier this month.

It noted that the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement called for a "complete shutdown" of the country, elaborating that "hospitals and emergency services will remain open, but no other institutions will operate, and no vehicles, except ambulances, will be allowed on the roads".

The report said BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leadership simultaneously called on their followers to support the shutdown, visibly prompting the then premier to designate the ministers for law, education and information for negotiating with leaders of the protesting students, in addition to the still ongoing efforts of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).

"By that stage, however, the students were no longer amenable to negotiations, as they doubted the Government's good faith in light of the recent Chhatra League and police attacks upon them," it read.

The report noted that from July 18, the general population also took to the streets while the protesters sought to disrupt traffic on key roads and the security forces, "at this stage switched to a lethal force paradigm".

"They used rifles, pistols and shotguns, in addition to less-lethal weapons, to disperse peaceful, albeit often disruptive, protests, committing killings in Uttara (case 3) and many other places, while also actively obstructing medical care (case 8) for those injured," it said.

As the crowds attending the protests became more heterogenous, it said,

"During the evening of 18 July, the Government ordered the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) to use maximum force and imposed a complete Internet shutdown on the country that would last until 23 July," the report said.

 The OHCHR found that on 19 July, the BGB, police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and others shot at crowds in Rampura and Badda and in many other places in Dhaka and across the country but were unable to quell either peaceful protest or violent unrest.

In the evening, it said, the then prime minister ordered a nationwide curfew, effective from midnight, and deployed 27,000 army soldiers and on 20 and 21 July, the security forces carried out major operations.

The actions saw the security forces firing military rifles and shotguns to disperse protests and unblock key roads under a joint operation of Police, RAB, BGB and Army particularly the Jatrabari intersection to clear the strategically important Dhaka-Chattogram highway, it said.

The OHCHR recalled that on 21 July, the a new Supreme Court decision capped the quota of public jobs reserved for the descendants of independence fighters at a much-reduced level of 5 percent and the "government quickly expressed its acceptance of the Court's view and publicly acknowledged the change".

"At that point, however, the student movement had already expanded its own demands to include the dismissal of the then Home Affairs Minister and several other senior officials, as well as insistence on criminal accountability for police officers and Chhatra League supporters who had killed students," the report read.

 On 26 July, it said, BNP publicly called for "national unity" among all democratic political parties, social and cultural organisations and other forces, and for them to unite in demanding the fall of the Government.

The OHCHR reported while street protests were "temporarily ebbed", the security forces carried out a mass arrest campaign against students, opposition supporters and others suspected of involvement in the protests while six prominent student leaders were detained too.

The UN office said these people were often detained without evidence of criminal wrongdoing and in many cases subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

"On 28 July, the head of Detective Branch sparked public outrage when he published a video recording of a coerced statement, in which the six detained student leaders denounced the protests," the report noted.

The OHCHR also recorded that then prime minister Sheikh Hasina visited a vandalized metro station on 25 July and the burned Bangladesh TV building on the next day and on the same day spoke with injured patients at several hospitals where many injured by police and BGB shootings were being treated.

She also invited families of slain students to her residence on 28 July and "on these occasions, she publicly placed all blame for the violence and loss of life on opposition parties".

On 30 July, the government decided to ban Jamaat-e-Islami and its associated organisations.

"All these events contributed to the reignition of mass protests and violent unrest at the beginning of August 2024. Renewed mass protests forcing Sheikh Hasina's departure," the report observed.

The OHCHR noted that when protests reignited, the protest movement coalesced around a new, single demand: "the resignation of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Government".

"Extensive force, including lethal force, was used in response. Concerns related to the security forces' use of force were personally relayed by a senior security sector official and a member of Cabinet to the Prime Minister at the beginning of August," the report read.

It noted that the army continued to be deployed on the streets, but "support among officers and troops for using force against protesters was waning" and 3 August, army chief General Wakar-uz-Zaman convened a large army meeting, where junior officers informed him that they did not wish to shoot at protesters.

The report said the protest movement planned a mass march into central Dhaka for 5 August and on 4 August; the then premier chaired a meeting of the National Security Council in which the chiefs of army, BGB, police, intelligence agencies and home, education and foreign ministers participated, among others. They discussed re-imposing a curfew and enforcing it to prevent the march on Dhaka.

A second meeting was held in the late evening of August 4 at the Prime Minister's residence, home minister, heads of the armed forces, police, RAB and BGB, when the army chief and other security officials reassured her that Dhaka could be held.

According to the report, a plan was agreed according to which the army and BGB would deploy alongside police to block protesters from accessing central Dhaka, if necessary, by force.

It said on 5 August, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched towards central Dhaka when police and armed Awami League supporters fired at protesters in many locations though the army and BGB largely stood by and let protesters march, although soldiers did shoot on at least one occasion, namely at Jamuna Future Park (case 7).

"In the late morning, the Army Chief told the then Prime Minister that the Army would not be able to prevent protesters from reaching her residence. At around 2pm, Sheikh Hasina was flown out of Dhaka by an Armed Forces helicopter and then out of the country," the report read.