Dhaka, Bangladesh – A day after Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year autocratic rule ended, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, took on a sombre and strange look.
Town’s streets, which had been stuffed with jubilant crowds following Prime Minister Hasina’s fall round 2pm (08:00 GMT) on Monday, had been now notably much less busy, with fewer autos and pedestrians.
Most placing was the whole absence of police – no constables, officers or site visitors sergeants had been seen within the metropolis of about 20 million residents.
In lots of places, site visitors was being managed by individuals of their early 20s. On the Bijoy Sarani intersection, a serious crossroads resulting in the airport and parliament, about 5 – 6 younger males had been directing site visitors with bamboo sticks, even a cricket bat.
One man with a pointed goatee managed the circulation of vehicles heading in the direction of the Tejgaon Industrial Space by waving a bamboo stick, first directing site visitors in the direction of the airport after which permitting autos sure for Tejgaon to proceed in an orderly method.
The scene the place there as soon as stood an iconic bronze statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation’s father and Hasina’s father, had additionally dramatically modified.
On Monday evening, a throng of individuals used ropes to topple the statue and dismantled its base utilizing hammers and chisels. Enthusiastic crowds then moved in to gather items of the overturned statue.
“It jogged my memory of the video of Saddam Hussein’s statue being pulled down,” stated Asraf Ul Jubair when he shared a video of the scene on Fb.
It was an analogous scene on the Mohakhali intersection, one other usually busy space of town, the place younger individuals had been directing site visitors.
One in all them, Rabbi, who didn’t present his surname or age, smiled when requested about his function. “There aren’t any police… ‘shob bhagse’ – which implies they [the police] have all vanished out of concern,” he defined.
Monday evening violence
On Monday evening, after the large crowds celebrating Hasina’s fall had dispersed, a wave of violence erupted. Teams armed with sticks and sharp weapons moved by means of numerous elements of Dhaka, attacking people affiliated with Hasina’s Awami League celebration.
Mahbubul Haque, a resident of Dhanmondi, an Awami League stronghold, informed Al Jazeera that round midnight, a bunch of individuals arrived in a automotive and started vandalising the gate of an condominium constructing throughout from his house.
The constructing was occupied by a outstanding mental recognized for his sturdy assist of Hasina’s controversial actions, such because the suppression of scholars throughout the quota protest.
“At one level, they began firing weapons, and we had been terrified,” Haque recounted. “Then some armed forces arrived, they usually fled within the automotive. It’s horrifying.”
The violence continued all through the evening, with a whole bunch of movies of assorted assaults throughout the nation circulating on social media and going viral.
This led to widespread hypothesis, together with claims that Hindu houses in Muslim-majority Bangladesh had been being burned, and that police had been firing bullets from police stations in other places as offended mobs tried to enter and burn these down.
Jumanah Parisa, a third-year scholar at Brac College, informed Al Jazeera that she stayed up all evening studying and watching movies about occasions. She felt panicked. “We didn’t protest to make this land lawless,” she stated.
On Monday, clashes throughout the nation resulted in at the least 119 deaths – the deadliest day within the week-long protest. As a result of the police are seen as corrupted by the Hasina administration, many police stations had been focused by protesters. Furthermore, Hasina’s shut ties with the Indian authorities had led to rumours Indian businesses had been serving to her authorities suppress the protests.
Whereas some protest movies depicted atrocities like arson and violence, the hypothesis surrounding them was usually exaggerated, in response to Qadaruddin Shishir, a fact-checking editor for AFP, who spent Sunday evening debunking claims and posting clarifications on social media.
“The pictures of burning temples are outdated,” Shishir defined to Al Jazeera. “Sure, there have been assaults on police stations resulting from grievances over police brutality, however the police concerned had been Bangladeshi, not Indian.”
In the meantime, photographs of individuals, together with madrassa college students, standing guard in entrance of temples and Hindu houses circulated broadly on social media.
Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, a frontrunner of the Hindu neighborhood in Bangladesh, informed Al Jazeera that Hindu temples had been protected and no Hindus had been killed. Nevertheless, he famous that many Hindu houses and companies had been attacked by mobs in over 20 districts.
“However these Hindus had been related to the Awami League celebration they usually weren’t attacked due to their non secular identification, slightly due to their reference to Awami League,” stated Pramanik. “I haven’t heard any information {that a} common Hindu household with none political connection was attacked wherever.”
“Anyway, legislation enforcement have to be instantly bolstered,” he stated. “In any other case, the state of affairs will spiral uncontrolled.”
‘We’ll depart no hint of the Awami League’
On Tuesday morning, the speak of the city was who would head the interim authorities.
In most households and locations, individuals had been discussing that Muhammad Yunus, the nation’s Nobel laureate, goes to go the federal government as its chief adviser.
Many of the metropolis in the meantime was calm, with no indicators of violence or confrontation.
Nevertheless, within the upscale Dhanmondi space, crowds continued to assemble on the stays of the Awami League chairperson’s workplace, the Bangabandhu Museum and Hasina’s former residence, Sudha Sadan. These websites had been set ablaze by an offended mob the earlier afternoon.
At midday, one other constructing beside the Bangabandhu Museum, which was beforehand used for Awami League gatherings, was burning.
“We’ll depart no hint of the Awami League within the nation,” a younger man, who declined to offer his title, informed Al Jazeera whereas he struck the constructing with a hammer.
Street No. 3A, which housed a number of Awami League buildings together with the celebration chairman’s workplace, resembled a warfare zone. No less than three buildings had been utterly destroyed.
Yusuf Banna, a resident of the street, informed Al Jazeera he had been in a state of panic all through the evening. “Folks had such intense anger towards the Awami League that it appeared unstoppable. I used to be anxious about my household’s security, as an offended mob is unpredictable.”
Within the close by Kalabagan space, residents had been seen utilizing chisels and screwdrivers to deface a mural of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Sabur Ali, a middle-aged man, proudly informed Al Jazeera that he had been destroying symbols of the Awami League and Rahman since Monday midday.
Saiyeed Abdullah, a legislation graduate and social media influencer, known as for the rapid restoration of legislation and order. “We’ve got efficiently ousted a dictator and aspire to construct a simply nation. Whereas I perceive the grievances towards the Awami League and Hasina, permitting offended mobs to manage the streets shouldn’t be sustainable,” he stated.
Abdus Shakur, a motor mechanic who spent Monday evening awake in entrance of Dhaka’s Dhakeshwari temple, informed Al Jazeera that citizen volunteers would guarantee no vandalism, communal violence or crimes happen within the absence of police or legislation enforcement.
“We expect a brand new authorities that won’t solely restore legislation and order but in addition present correct justice,” stated Shakur, 28. “Till then, we’ll stay vigilant on the streets.”
