Bangladesch

[Exirt]

@Schneemann

Throughout the day, Bangladeshis everywhere are whispering, or clamouring, about a massacre at Motijheel, the commercial district of Dhaka. In the absence of a free, responsible media and the denial of the right to gather (a Section 144 has been issued), established narratives struggle to make sense alongside social experience. In this article, we bear witness to these reports, especially as the Bangladeshi government has effectively enforced a curfew, shutting down any media other than those towing its party line.

There are unconfirmed reports of hundreds (dare we say thousands) dying at the hands of police and the infamous Rapid Action Battalion who fired live rounds into protesters, aided by a black out as a result of an enforced electricity cut. The violence took place after the Hefazat-e-Islam movement staged its massive demonstration numbering up to a million people. Unlike its previous march, which ended and was commended for ending peacefully, this event has been marred by violence.

It is difficult to say who drew ‘first blood’, but what is clear is that Hefazat-e-Islami activists were armed only with their ceremonial sticks (a popular appendage for all Bangladeshi protesters, including secular-friendly Shahbagis) while the police were armed and ready with lethal force. They were aided, it would seem, by Awami League counter protesters, who, in the full lightness of day, and behind police lines, brandished and used firearms.
....

As the government becomes increasingly desperate and deluded, it is lashing out at opposition with ever-increasing violence. That hundreds and thousands of political demonstrators were terrified, killed and maimed in this way marks a new low in the history of Bangladesh, and its predecessor states. It comes as this beleaguered government still deals with its criminal negligence over the Rana Plaza tragedy. Some whisper the trajectory that may inevitably follow, that the Awami League makes a compelling case for an army takeover, a situation that none of us would wish.

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Und hier noch Human Right Asia: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-STM-088-2013">http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-n ... M-088-2013</a><!-- m -->