Snapping an Uprising: Bangladeshi Youth Take to the Streets
Saptarshi Nath captures students taking to the streets for road safety in Mirpur, Dhaka.
After a speeding bus killed two students of Shaheed Romijudding Cantonment College in Dhaka, students across the country took to the streets to challenge the state’s apathy and demand road safety.
The incident sparked nationwide protests. High school students blocked the main intersections and roads of Dhaka and other cities across the country. They took upon themselves the responsibilities of traffic sergeants during the protests and forced all vehicles to follow lanes, encouraged pedestrians to use overpasses to cross roads, and created an emergency lane for ambulances on major roads.
Hasina’s government gave some initial reassurances to the protestors. But then student protestors were attacked, a photojournalist was hacked on the street, and several allegations even emerged of protestors being kidnapped. All this raised some serious questions about how the government tackled the issue as well as the very limited rights of mass media during the protests.
I was on the streets of Mirpur on the 4th and 5th of August to document the protests as an amateur photojournalist.
