Cabinet Approves Road Safety Law Amid Protests in Bangladesh
TV stations aired footage of the clashes, with protesters throwing stones at police as chaos continued for hours.
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Police in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka fired tear gas on Monday, 6 August, to disperse hundreds of demonstrating students, while a prominent human rights group demanded the release of an activist arrested for criticising the government during more than a week of protests, AP reported.
The protests, set off by the deaths of two students killed by speeding buses, grew last week to tens of thousands of people, becoming a major embarrassment to Hasina's government, which faces a general election later this year.
Shahidul Alam, a well-known photographer and activist, was arrested Sunday by plain-clothed policemen after giving a television interview in which he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has no credibility and was using "brute force" to cling to power.
Amnesty International called for Alam's immediate release, with Deputy South Asia Director Omar Waraich saying in a statement that the arrest "marks a dangerous escalation of a crackdown by the government”.
Road Safety Law Passed
Giving in to the demands of student protesters, Bangladesh's Cabinet on Monday, 6 August, approved a new road safety law and promised to consider death penalty for deliberately causing accidents, PTI reported.
The government rushed the new draft of the Road Transport Act 2018 to the Cabinet amidst pressure from student protests for safe roads and an unannounced strike by bus operators in response to the demonstrations.
Cabinet secretary Shafiul Alam, in a media briefing after the Cabinet meeting said,
Law Minister Anisul Huq told a separate briefing that if police investigations found drivers to have deliberately caused accidents to kill someone, they would face death penalty under the country's penal code.
Though buses returned to Dhaka roads in limited numbers after eight days of complete shutdown, protesters clashed with police at various parts of the city.
The students had earlier blocked the roads in retaliation, only allowing emergency vehicles to pass through.
In light of the growing agitation, the government threatened to adopt even tougher measures if the protests turn “too disruptive”, reported Reuters.
Dhaka remained largely cut off from the rest of Bangladesh as buses stopped plying from other parts of the country. The owners and workers of the bus companies have said that they will not run their vehicles unless they feel safe, after dozens of vehicles were either vandalised or torched in Dhaka and elsewhere.
In Kolkata, students from Jadavpur University staged a protest on 6 August, in front of the Bangladesh high commission against the police attack on Bangladeshi students, ANI reported.
All India DSO (Democratic Students Organisation) also held a protest march in solidarity.
Witnesses and media reports said Saturday's chaos broke out in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area as police and ruling party men swooped in on the students. A top leader of the ruling Awami League said some "criminals" wearing school uniforms joined the violence. Many protesters blamed the student wing of the ruling party for the attacks.
TV stations aired footage of the clashes, with protesters seen throwing stones at police as the chaos continued for hours.
The outgoing US ambassador, Marcia Bernicat’s car was attacked by armed men, out of whom some were on motorcycles, in Dhaka on Saturday, the embassy said in a statement, reported Reuters.
However, noting the crack-down on the protesters, the US Embassy criticised it, saying that the agitation had “united and captured the imagination of the whole country,” Reuters reported.
Govt Reaction to the Protests
Reacting to the protests, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suggested that it was being used by her political rivals to “stir up anti-government sentiment” ahead of the upcoming general elections that are to be held later this year, Reuters reported.
However, the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party denied involvement in the protests.
Following the outbreak of the protests, the government did launch a week-long drive to check vehicle certificates in a bid to improve traffic safety, but it made itself very clear by saying it would not “tolerate” more disruption from the protesters end, reported Reuters.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), directed all mobile phone operators to suspend 3G, 4G internet connections for a period of 24 hours following Saturday night, without offering any official reasons behind their step, reported The Dhaka Tribune.
It further claimed that it had not given the order to suspend any broadband internet connection. However, several users complained that the services were down and that on questioning the local operators, they had learned that it was done on a police directive, the report added.
Thousands of other students took to the streets elsewhere in Dhaka on Saturday, but no major violence was reported.
The protests, which began last Sunday (29 July) have paralysed Dhaka, a city of 10 million. The two buses were racing to collect passengers, a common occurrence in the city, which is regularly gridlocked by traffic chaos.
(With inputs from PTI, AP and Reuters)
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