Video showing Bangladesh students pelting stones emerges as stand-off with govt over road safety continues for 8th day

More than 100 people were injured in Bangladesh ’s capital Dhaka following a major escalation in a stand-off between the government and student protesters. Different versions have been doing the round over who attacked the students in Dhaka’s Jigatala neighbourhood. According to one version, the police fired rubber bullets at student protesters, whereas, according to a second version, members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League attacked the student protesters. Though both have denied the allegations, a video shared on Facebook, now claims that it was the members of the ruling party’s student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, who attacked the protesters. “Those who claim that Bangladesh Chhatra League have not done anything, here is a video showing them attacking others,” Facebook user, Ahmed Pasha Faisal, who shot the video on Saturday, said. The video, verified by Firstpost, shows one group of stick-yielding students (in white shirts) pelting stones at another group of helmet-wearing individuals allegedly members of Bangladesh Chhatra League. The video also shows students carrying injured protesters to safety, while others questioning how the government is planning to handle their safety issues. One of the protestors in the video says, " See, how one lot of students are attacking another lot and they are none other than members of the (Bangladesh) Chhatra League." The video ends showing one of the injured students, who has been hurt in the eye, being taken to the hospital.

  During the last one week, students have brought parts of the capital Dhaka to a standstill with protests against poor road safety after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus. On 29 July, a bus had ploughed through a crowd, killing two students of Dhaka’s Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College minutes after the classes had ended. Students in Dhaka and across Bangladesh have been out in the streets, demanding the government to take action against traffic rule violators and make roads safe for its citizens. Students have been checking licences of vehicles and drivers, and streaming them live on Facebook for everyone to see. On Saturday, the protests took a violent turn in the Jigatala neighbourhood. While witnesses said police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators and that alleged pro-government activists attacked youngsters, including some of those rushing to nearby hospitals for treatment, police have denied that rubber bullets were fired, The Telegraph reported. “It’s not true. Nothing happened at Jigatola,” Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman said. However hospital staff said dozens of people had been injured, some seriously. “We have treated more than 115 injured students so far since the afternoon,” said emergency ward doctor Abdus Shabbir, adding some sported injuries consistent with rubber bullets. “A few of them were in very bad condition.” Bangladesh authorities have shut down mobile internet across swathes of the country, officials and local media said on Sunday, as the authorities try to quell massive student protests that have spiralled into violence. The country’s highest circulated newspaper Prothom Alo said 3G and 4G internet services have been shut down for 24 hours since late Saturday, shortly after the violence broke out. Social media has been filled with comments from Bangladeshis unable to access the internet via their phones, although wireless and wired networks appear to be unhindered. With agency inputs