REPORT
Bangladesh: The 2024 Uprising
REPORT
MFMIF Report, Bangladesh: The 2024 Uprising, Crimes Committed During The Uprising, Preliminary Evidentiary Analysis, 05 September, 2024
The July-August 2024 protests leading to the then government's collapse in Bangladesh was marred by largescale violence and allegations of human rights abuses. The violence resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protesters, 44 police members, and reportedly over 100 pro-government supporters.
This 93 page report, based on extensive field research and open source investigation, analyses in detail the violence and crimes committed by various parties during the protests.
The report is currently being made available to organisations, institutions and governmental agencies involved in researching and investigating these issues.
To access the full report, or the evidence we have collected and presented in the report, please get in touch with us.
Email: contact@mfmif.org
Methodology
The evidence presented in this report are data which has been collected through open source investigation and which has been analysed, verified and corroborated through a combination of our field research data and media reports.
Significant research reports by other human rights organisations have not been published yet at the time of writing this report.
We preserve all the evidence we collect and analyse in the MFMIF Evidence Repository. Organisations involved in the issues discussed in this report and seeking access to this evidence are encouraged to contact us. We also welcome anyone willing to provide us with further related evidence to contact us.
Primary data
Field research was conducted during 16 July 2024 to 05 August 2024, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, through which we gathered primary data of the protests/movement. We witnessed and collected data of the peaceful protests of the students, as well as clashes between the students and the police and pro-government supporters. The locations include Science Lab, Bata Signal, Katabon, Shahbagh, Dhaka University, Johnson Road, Green Road, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and Savar. Important dates include, amongst others, the large-scale clashes on 19 July 2024 and 04 August 2024. We also collected important field data during the extreme medical emergency faced at Dhaka Medical College on 04 August 2024, witnessing shot, injured and killed protesters. We also witnessed the radical transformation of the country and mass burning of various public/government properties and private properties of the then Awami League leaders on 05 August 2024.
Secondary data
The field research was supplemented through open source investigation. Real-time data, primarily photos and videos, was collected from various social media channels.
We have gone through at least over 21,000 social media posts on Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp and YouTube during the period of 15 July 2024 to 06 August 2024, from which we have analysed more than 1200 videos and hundreds of photos. We have selected, collected and stored 406 videos in the MFMIF Evidence Repository, and more are continuously being added as they become available. From these, 73 videos have been presented and analysed in this report. We have also stored hundreds of photos in the Evidence Repository which are being analysed to determine their authenticity and relevance. Texts and messages were considered less reliable than photos and videos, and have not been incorporated in this report.
We have also analysed hundreds of media reports in text and over 700 media reports in video format from a large variety of Bangladeshi and international agencies, TV channels and newspapers, some of which have been added to our Evidence Repository. Although they have been used to assist our evidentiary analysis for this report, and a number of clips presented in this report were collected from media channels, we have sought to limit our reliance on media reports unless we were able to corroborate them using other pieces of evidence or through multiple media sources.
The protests: context
Following the hearing of the Writ Petition No. 6063 of 2021 on 30 May 2024 in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and the subsequent judgment dated 05 June 2024 reinstating the previously 56% reserved quota system for government jobs, largescale protests by university students broke across Bangladesh against the quota system from the beginning of July 2024. Whilst the protests were peaceful at first, they began to be violently clamped down by the police and pro-government student wings from 15 July 2024 onwards. Clashes broke out all across Bangladesh between the different groups and these lasted until 05 August 2024, when the government fell after the then Prime Minister and head of the then ruling Awami League party resigned as Prime Minister and left the country. An interim government was thereafter formed on 08 August 2024.
Death toll
The UN OHCHR has reported that nearly 400 people were reportedly killed between 16 July 2024 and 04 August 2024, and another 250 people were reportedly killed during 05-06 August 2024. UNICEF confirmed at least 32 children to have been killed during the protests in July 2024. A complete report of the persons killed has not been provided yet from the Bangladesh interim government or other official source at the time of writing this report.
Analysing media sources, we have prepared a preliminary analysis of the persons killed between 16 July 2024 and 06 August 2024, as presented below in the following chart.
It is hoped that every single instance of killing and unlawful violence committed by and against all parties involved in the extraordinary events of July-August 2024 in Bangladesh will be investigated by the proper authorities in due course and accountability of the crimes committed will be ensured through a fair, independent and impartial legal process.
It is also hoped that all persons who died and were injured during this time will be given due recognition, justice, medical treatment andreparations will be provided to them or their families as appropriate.