26 dead in Saturday violence, 124 in four days

According to reports, 26 people were killed in the series of clashes and violence in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Gazipur, Savar and Narsingdi on Saturday. Of them, 15 were killed in Dhaka, according to data from Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. Outside Dhaka, four were killed in Mymensingh, four in Savar, two in Gazipur and one in Narsingdi.

Among the dead on Saturday were two police officers and a young boy. Most of the dead were young people.

There is news that 19 more people were killed on Friday, bringing the death toll for the day to 75. A total of 148 people were killed on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to information gathered from hospitals and relatives. Information from all hospitals was not available.

Violence broke out on Monday, centered around the demand for quota reforms. But the deaths in these six days occurred on four days: Tuesday 6, Thursday 41, Friday 75 and Saturday 26.

According to hospital sources and doctors, there were traces of bullet wounds on the bodies of many of the dead. There were also traces of injuries from rubber bullets.

On Friday evening, the government announced a curfew and deployed troops across the country.

At the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, 14 people were declared dead on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital. The two policemen who died were assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the tourist police, Muktadir, 48, and DMP protection division officer Gias Uddin. Both had suffered head injuries. According to the DMP, 167 policemen were injured till Friday and 50 of them were undergoing treatment in hospital.

The bodies were brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital from Jatrabari and Shanir Akhra on Saturday.

Those brought dead to Dhaka Medical College Hospital by Jatrabari and Shanir Akhra on Saturday were Imam Hasan Tayeem, 19, Jishan, 33, Yunus Ali Shaon, 25, Yusuf Miah alias Sanwar, 35, and Habib, 30, from Mirpur, Kamrul. Miah, 27, from Kadamtali, Sohel, 35, from Sighboard in Narayanganj, Arif, 35, and an unidentified child, 10. Three died while under treatment. They were Abdul Hannan of Bhatara, 32, and Shubho, 16, and Abdullah Al Abir, 23.

One of those killed on Saturday was shifted to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital. According to hospital records, 10 bodies were shifted there on Friday, though the total was more, sources said. An exact figure was not available.

According to sources, the four people killed in the violence in Mymensingh were Rakib, 19, student Jubair, 21, student Biplob, 18, and Saidul Islam, 42.

In Savar, the dead included 60-year-old poultry trader Korban Ali, 24-year-old mason’s assistant Mehdi Hasan, 14-year-old student Saad Mahmud Khan and 27-year-old rickshaw puller Tipu Sultan.

On Friday, the death toll across the country reached 75.

Supreme Court advocate Shahdeen Malik told Prothom Alo that there must be accountability and justice for all these deaths.