‘They were beating us as hard as they could’

As usual, Md Rabiul Alam (19), a labour leader, headed to Majhir Ghat in Chattogram City for work on Sunday. He and four workers found themselves caught in the clash between quota reform protesters and Awami League activists in the New Market area.

They were brutally beaten, and their mobile phones and wallets were taken. 

In the evening, while receiving treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Rabiul recounted the harrowing experience to The Business Standard. 

He also mentioned that he had lost contact with his four companions.

Rabiul said, "Around 11:30am, when the clash began, we sought refuge at Riazuddin Bazar on Station Road. Awami League activists started beating us, suspecting we were students. Despite repeatedly telling them we were labourers, they didn't listen. They were beating as hard as they could. About 20-30 people beat us severely."

Rabiul, from Tintori Bazar in Manikchari upazila of Khagrachari, works unloading fish from trawlers and ships at the Karnaphuli Ghat area. Two weeks ago, he brought Hasan (19), Faruk (18), Suman (16), and Sharif (17), from the same area to Chattogram to work under him. On Sunday morning, as the five of them were heading to work from Shershah Bangla Bazar to Majhirghat, they were all assaulted.

Rabiul said he has not yet found his companions, who are unfamiliar with Chattogram. Their mobile phones and wallets were also snatched.

Abul Hasnat (25), a manager of a restaurant in the Court area, was attacked on the roof of his residence at Jalsa Market in the New Market area. He sustained head and back injuries from being hacked. Lying in a bed at the Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Casualty Department, he told TBS that Awami League activists attacked him, suspecting him to be a student.

On Sunday, around 11:30am, a clash erupted between quota reform protesters and Awami League activists in the New Market area, where both groups had gathered. 

Awami League activists attacked students with weapons, and there were reports of cocktail explosions.

The violence in Chattogram left nearly two hundred people injured, with 175 receiving treatment at CMCH alone. The clashes spread to 15 different locations in the city, and many injured were treated at various private hospitals. AL activists were seen wielding weapons during the attacks.

In the Nandan Kanan area, Mohammad Hridoy, an accounting student at Chattogram University, was attacked by AL activists. Rabiul Hasan, a student of Chattogram College who brought Hridoy to CMCH, told TBS that Hridoy was beaten by many and lost consciousness twice. 

Hridoy's father, who is affiliated with AL, instructed him not to report the incident. Hridoy's mother's phone was unreachable, and the family resides in Dewanhat area of the city.

In the Amtal area, Zahid Hasan (22), a mobile mechanic at CDA Market, was shot in the left leg. He said, "Around 11:30am, seeing the trouble, I closed my shop and was leaving when a group of people approached, shooting. I got caught in the middle."

Mohammad Alauddin (28), a resident of Halishahar, was injured by birdshot in the neck. He was the first injured person to arrive at CMCH from Sunday's clashes. 

Alauddin, who has a shoe business in Dhaka's Kanchpur, was in Chattogram to visit his newborn child (40 days old) and got stranded there two weeks ago. On Sunday, he was heading to Chaktai Bazar to buy dried fish when he got caught in the New Market clash and was injured.