Police Clash Footage Shocks Bangladesh as Internet Returns

Bangladesh army stand guard near the country's Secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)
Bangladesh army stand guard near the country's Secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)
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Police Clash Footage Shocks Bangladesh as Internet Returns

Bangladesh army stand guard near the country's Secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)
Bangladesh army stand guard near the country's Secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP)

When millions of Bangladeshis came back online this week after a nationwide internet shutdown, many were shocked to watch a ferocious police clampdown they had earlier only heard while bunkered in their homes.
At least 206 people were killed last month during some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure, sparked by student demonstrations against civil service hiring rules.
Bystanders and several police officers were among the dead but most were protesters killed by police fire, hospitals told AFP, with rights groups and the European Union condemning what they said was an excessive use of force.
Footage of clashes between security forces and crowds was largely absent from news broadcasts and few had a grasp of their extent until the national mobile internet network was switched back on after an 11-day shutdown.
Though the unrest has since calmed, several graphic amateur videos published to social media that show police firing on protesters have inflamed public anger against Hasina's government.
“How come the police are killing our brothers and sisters like this?" one user wrote, in response to a short clip of a police officer firing at a wounded young man while another tried to drag him safely from the scene.
AFP was able to pinpoint the footage to Jatrabari, a bustling neighborhood in the capital Dhaka, and from there identify three eyewitnesses who corroborated the video.
All spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution if they identified themselves.
The incident occurred on July 20, hours after Hasina's government announced a nationwide curfew and deployed troops to restore order at the height of the unrest.
One witness said the wounded man in the video, 18-year-old Imam Hossain Taim, had been accosted by police but denied participating in protests before he was shot.
"He fell on the ground and was trying to crawl away. Two other men fled the scene but one guy came back to take his friend away," the witness added.
Taim was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital but died of his injuries later that day, his father Moynal Hossain told AFP.
"He was not even a protester," Taim's elder brother Tuhin told AFP. "He was roaming around with friends during a break in the curfew."
The footage of the attack on Taim was viewed more than half a million times after it was posted to Facebook, and the 60-second clip was widely shared on WhatsApp and other messaging platforms.
AFP also verified another video taken a day earlier in the nearby neighborhood of Rampura that showed police firing at a man at point-blank range as he clung to an under-construction building. The man had fled into the site, according to eyewitnesses. The clip has been viewed more than two million times on Facebook.
"I cried countless times watching this. I am crying now," one user wrote in response. "This would not happen in a free country."
'Forced to open fire'
Rights groups have accused Hasina's government of sidelining opposition parties and ruthlessly stamping out dissent during its 15-year tenure.
Many in Dhaka could hear gunfire and explosions from around the megacity of 20 million people from inside their homes during last month's unrest.
But television coverage was heavily censored and showed little of the police response to the disorder, instead focusing on arson attacks and vandalism by protesters.
Amnesty International said its review of photographic, video and eyewitness testimony found the "unlawful" use of force by police against protesters on several occasions.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also condemned the police response to the disorder and called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.
"There must be full accountability for the numerous instances of use of excessive and lethal force by the law enforcement authorities against protesters and others," he said in a statement.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan last weekend denied that the police response to the unrest was excessive, saying security forces had shown "extreme levels of patience" and only fired when necessary to stop attacks on government buildings.
"When they saw that the properties could not be protected, then police were forced to open fire," he said.



US Sanctions 16 Allies of Venezuela's President over Accusations of Obstructing Election

A man holds a sign with the image of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and text that reads: 'Maduro, close the (Centro Penitenciario El Helicoide)' during a protest by the families of political prisoners in Venezuela demanding their release; in Caracas, Venezuela, 11 September 2024. EPA/RONALD PENA R
A man holds a sign with the image of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and text that reads: 'Maduro, close the (Centro Penitenciario El Helicoide)' during a protest by the families of political prisoners in Venezuela demanding their release; in Caracas, Venezuela, 11 September 2024. EPA/RONALD PENA R
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US Sanctions 16 Allies of Venezuela's President over Accusations of Obstructing Election

A man holds a sign with the image of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and text that reads: 'Maduro, close the (Centro Penitenciario El Helicoide)' during a protest by the families of political prisoners in Venezuela demanding their release; in Caracas, Venezuela, 11 September 2024. EPA/RONALD PENA R
A man holds a sign with the image of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and text that reads: 'Maduro, close the (Centro Penitenciario El Helicoide)' during a protest by the families of political prisoners in Venezuela demanding their release; in Caracas, Venezuela, 11 September 2024. EPA/RONALD PENA R

The US government on Thursday responded to Venezuela’s disputed July presidential election by imposing sanctions against 16 allies of President Nicolás Maduro, accusing them of obstructing the vote and carrying out human rights abuses.

Those targeted by the Treasury Department include the head of the country’s high court, leaders of state security forces and prosecutors. The move came days after the departure into exile of Edmundo González Urrutia, the former diplomat who represented the main opposition parties and claimed to have won the July 28 presidential election by a wide margin.

Venezuela’s electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor hours after polls closed, but unlike previous presidential elections, they never released detailed vote tallies to back up their claim arguing that the National Electoral Council’s website was hacked. To the surprise of supporters and opponents, González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado shortly afterward announced not only that their campaign had obtained vote tallies from over two-thirds of the electronic voting machines used in the election but also that they had published them online to show the world that Maduro had lost.

Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s high court, stacked with ruling party loyalists, to audit the results. The court reaffirmed his victory.

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which observed the election at the invitation of Maduro’s government, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. The UN experts stopped short of validating the opposition’s claim to victory but said the faction’s voting records published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.
“Rather than respecting the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed at the ballot box, Maduro and his representatives have falsely claimed victory while repressing and intimidating the democratic opposition in an illegitimate attempt to cling to power by force,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

According to The Associated Press, the State Department said it is placing new visa restrictions on Maduro allies who are accused of impeding the vote and repressing Venezuelans. The department did not name those individuals.

The potential effect of the individual sanctions and visa restrictions announced Thursday is unclear. Previously punished Maduro loyalists still play key roles in Venezuela's government, including as vice president, attorney general and defense minister.

Venezuela’s government released a statement that characterized the latest set of sanctions as a “rude act that seeks to ingratiate itself with a political class that has resorted to fascist and violent practices to overthrow, without success,” Maduro.