Police tortured protests’ organizers in Bangladesh

Featured image: Students in India in solidarity with Bangladesh. Source: Revolutionary Students Front (RSF) Facebook account

As some students who led the marches reported, the police tortured them in the midst of the students uproars against the quotas.

Since the eruption of the protests in Bangladesh the violence by the State has been brutal. The number of murdered in the protests has reached 180 according to several media, however, there is no known official figures. It is usual to see videos and images from the police shooting with live ammunition on the demonstrators which could not be controlled by the State. Moreover students have denounced tortures by the police. A student denounced how 20 officers, which identified themselves as police, kidnapped him at 3 am and started to torture him, physically and mentally, and made an interrogation about why they were protesting, which were they reasons and why they did not accepted to hold negotiations with the government.

The official number of detainees is more than 2,500, almost the half of them detained at the capital, Dhaka. The universities and education institutions have been closed since 17th of July, and internet was cut to prevent the organization of these marches and to prevent the spreading and denounce of the repression through this mean. A curfew was also imposed.

This is the result, so far, of the State repression against the Bangladeshi uprising against the quota system, which could severely harm the university students in favor of the descendants of those who participated in the war against Pakistan in 1971. However, the High Court has stated that these quotas will be implemented but just with a 7% of the jobs reserved, which shows, even if this is reducing the proposed number at the beginning, is still keeping the quota system. Before this proposal, combative sections of the anti-quota movement continue protesting. For example, the Revolutionary Student Youth Movement has shown its rejection to it.

Garment factories remained closed after the curfew and now are reopening. These protests have severely affected the clothing monopolies which are operating in the second country which exports the most these clothes in the world.

The RSF from India continues showing its solidarity with Bangladeshi students and it is denouncing the Awami League reactionary government. Since last 19th of July, when demonstrators were repressed by local authorities in India, the RSF took the streets again along with democratic rights organizations to show solidarity with Bangladesh.