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In Bangladesh, violence has escalated, leaving at least 39 dead in clashes between protesters and police. As internet services went down across most of the country, hundreds were injured as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesting students. What sparked these protests, and why has the situation escalated to such extremes?
The students are angry about the reintroduction of a quota system that reserves a third of government jobs for families of veterans who fought in the 1971 War of Independence. This controversial move has sparked widespread outrage, leading to the current unrest.
Amidst this chaos, Amnesty International has reported that Bangladeshi police used "unlawful force" against protesters. To delve deeper into this issue, we're joined by Takir Huda, the regional researcher for South Asia at Amnesty International.
"Unlawful force," as defined by international legal instruments, violates principles such as legality, necessity, and proportionality. When assessing whether the use of force has been lawful, these three principles are key. Was there a lawful objective the law enforcement agency was seeking to achieve? Was the use of force necessary, or could it have been resolved through nonviolent means? If force is needed, it must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the objective.
Huda explains how Amnesty International verified the allegations of unlawful force: "We triangulate human intelligence, open source information, and also geospatial intelligence. We collected eyewitness and victim accounts from the ground over telephone calls, looked at information available on the internet and from media houses, and analyzed video and photographic evidence with the assistance of our citizens' evidence lab."
One particularly shocking case they analyzed was the shooting of Abu, the first student known to be killed on July 16th. "Two officers were discharging 12-gauge shotguns at him," Huda says. "We assessed through geospatial intelligence that the distance between them was 15 meters, and Abu was not posing any threat to the officers at that time or anyone around him."
Furthermore, their findings also point to a student group affiliated with the ruling party, the Bangladesh Chatra League, attacking protesting students. "The witnesses we spoke to categorically alleged that the people who were attacking them were from the Bangladesh Chatra League," Huda reveals.
As the situation in Bangladesh remains tense, it's clear that a peaceful resolution is urgently needed. The use of unlawful force by police and attacks by affiliated groups only exacerbate the already volatile situation. What will it take to de-escalate the violence and restore order in Bangladesh?
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