Rights group reveals shocking death toll from Bangladesh protests

Human Rights Support Society claims at least 819 people killed

More than 800 people were killed during the mass protests in Bangladesh that toppled the Awami League government and forced prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India, a rights group in the country has said.

The South Asian nation was plunged into a crisis earlier this summer after students launched an agitation against a jobs quota for relatives of the 1971 war veterans.

The street protests quickly turned into an uprising against Ms Hasina’s government, despite the top court scaling back the quota, culminating in the prime minister’s ouster in early August.

At least 819 people were killed in the violent agitation, mostly in capital Dhaka, the Human Rights Support Society claimed on Tuesday. The dead included 83 children, five journalists and 51 law enforcement agents.

The group said they identified 630 of the dead based on information from their families, eyewitnesses and hospitals, and 189 remained unknown. At least 455 of them were “shot to death” while others were either burned or beaten to death.

As many as 311 people were killed in the first round of the protests between 6 July and 3 August, but the majority of the deaths were reported from 4 to 18 August when millions of people poured out protesting against police brutality against the demonstrators, the group claimed.

Police in Bangladesh were accused of using lethal force to contain the protests before stepping back in the wake of the prime minister’s minister.

The rights group demanded the formation of an independent commission to ensure justice for those killed during the agitation.

A UN agency last week estimated that 650 people were killed in Bangladesh between 16 July and 11 August.

“Those killed include protesters, bystanders, journalists and security forces personnel,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a report, adding that thousands of protesters and bystanders were injured.

The report suggested that the death toll could be an underestimate as restrictions due to curfew and internet shutdown hindered the process of data collection.

"Additional, alleged violations that also warrant thorough, impartial and transparent investigations included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, as well as severe restrictions on the exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” the report said.

Bangladesh, a country of 170 million, is currently ruled by economist Muhammad Yunus, along with student leaders of the agitation that ousted Ms Hasina.

Mr Yunus, upon taking over as chief adviser of the interim government, declared that his priority would be to restore "law and order".