Stuck in a moment

Dhaka, evening of 22nd August

When something as commonplace as a fight in the rowdy soccer audience can set off citywide – and now countrywide – riots, it is safe to assume that things are very much at trigger point ... and that there will be more of the same. For those of you who are waiting to hear from friends in this part of the world, I just wanted to fill in a few details.

Bangladesh projected into the media on Tuesday thanks to student riots in colleges and universities, followed by major city centers. Until this afternoon, it appeared to be little more than the volatility of pre-election wrangling, or the horse-trading street demonstration between the parties’ student wings ... or at most, it was backlash at the army deployment that was making rent-collectors’ lives difficult ...

Whichever it was, Bangladeshis are quite accustomed to demonstrations, which often tend to turn violent. My brother insists that the trouble is just for the sake of it – because there are too many people with nothing to do! Running up and down a street with a hockey stick and breaking some glass is more interesting than what happens on an average day. Better still if there is some monetary incentive (by the major political parties) involved, which we can now safely assume, is there.

On Monday, when the army came to a confrontation with the students of Dhaka University, the events began to cascade. Why the university you ask?
The technocrat government that has been in place for seven months has an apparatus that is very visibly military. The army has been deployed to each university ‘to keep the peace’ … although there are deployments in parts of the city, the army is centered in the higher education institutions because due to the culture of student politics, universities are where the agitations usually begin. On this particular day, the spark was an altercation between student and army (in civilian clothing) spectators of a soccer match. Three Dhaka University students were violently beaten up, and hospitalized. To show solidarity, thousands others poured out into the streets to demonstrate – it is not useful right now to consider whether their intention was peaceful or not because before the activism even started, riot police was deployed at the University. Security personnel at all the other universities were multiplied and put on riot alert. The government was worried … about violent mass mobilization … and the demonstrators sensed that. The army had made a wrong move, and the people had found the pretext they needed.

The government’s calculation was right because true to the nature of student politics here, students at every major university were demonstrating by the next day. For us, yesterday was a day of watching television, listening to the radio, heightened sms traffic, rumours and few facts flying over the internet, and a large riot police presence in every major point in the city. There were sporadic demonstrations, chases and counter-chase within the campuses and burning tyres at street corners. Someone threw a brick-bat at our car and cracked the windshield while it was at the other major public university. People, although out and about, were cautious. Family members at home were in constant contact with those that were out – there was no knowing when matters turned violent. The last thing the government wanted was an uprising … and that made it increasingly uneasy ... After seven months of ban on political activity, the parties were waiting for any cause to rally around. After the Dhaka University violence, the government negotiated with the university, and in a preemptive move, conceded to withdraw the army camp. Although they relented, damage had been done. As could have been predicted, the withdrawal, instead of quelling, fuelled the demonstrators. They were not finished just yet.

Finding the government on the back foot, students countrywide pushed for the same in other universities. There were more demonstrations, more blockades, more breakage, more businesses set on fire, more sirens and more news. At which point it stopped being about civil rights and it started becoming about politics is hard to tell, but now it is completely political and the chase/counter-chase and tyre-burning has spread to every part of the city. Similarly, riot police are everywhere. There are no clear demands just yet, but simply a need to demonstrate … the government has a lot to fear because the agitations are destructive. The demonstrators broke some 200 cars, but equally, the police fired some 200 tear-gas shells and injured tens of people with rubber bullets. It is hard to say who is really on the defensive. But everyone is spoiling for a fight.

At 4pm today, they declared a 6pm curfew. We came home from whatever we were doing. No, rumour. Curfew starts at 8pm. Sitting at home in these situations gives you cabin fever, because you can hear large groups of people and police chasing each other, you can hear the ambulances, fire-trucks, and if you’re (un)lucky, even see smoke. A restaurant called Four Seasons was set on fire right outside our building. Smoke billowed out, and within ten minutes we were on television (private TV channels waste no time). I went to our roof and took some photos … wanting to be closer, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go out on the street below ... would make for some good photos. I took what I could from a distance.

The curfew was activated at 8pm. Police are lining our streets. Living rooms became controls rooms … everyone’s coordinates were confirmed and reconfirmed. And then suddenly it was learnt that the cellphone networks had been blocked. I hadn’t exactly lived through communist times, but this must come close. None of the illustrious television channels mentioned the fact that mobile networks were disabled, which in itself is quite worrisome. Two of my teenage cousins are out somewhere and haven’t come home yet. I am sitting here watching the street.

… it is now 10pm and the internet is also out. Under emergency rules, it can shut down the news also, but that has not happened yet. Its public image is declining because aside from security, it does not have a leg to stand on. It has made many concessions, but businesses and NGOs are stagnating … the direction in which the economy, investments, and the public mood is going, it can definitely expect more trouble from the political parties which have been muted till now. The general public still supports the government because of the heightened security situation, but who knows how sustainable that is. Politics is now entering the calm, and this can be a long-term phenomenon we are seeing ... which means there will be more riot police, tear-gas shells, rubber bullets, students hospitalized, cars and rickshaws burnt, businesses destroyed in retaliation, backlash against individual members of the technocrat government and general shutdown of the country. And forget flood relief – security issues have silenced the voices of the destitute, sinking and marooned … the somber reality is that civil society is only a voice that speaks for the cities.

At least the mood is uplifted. Yesterday when the army packed up to leave the campus, students posed for a photo where their faces were lit with smiles, and the ground was lit in the shape of candles that spelt ‘BYE’. I am sure there was a subliminal message for the government somewhere in there.

Photos: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=wcv2d57.1ux5qcev&x=0&y=42n2bm