On 22 November, around 50 folk gathered at the doorway of the Day-to-day Big title Centre after Friday prayers.
The protesters accused The Day-to-day Big title and Prothom Alo of being “agents of India.”
Essentially primarily based on the stressful negate of affairs, Dhaka Metropolitan Police personnel positioned themselves on the premises for safety reasons.
A pair of days later, on 24 November, violence erupted in Veteran Dhaka as college students from extra than a dozen colleges, in conjunction with Dr Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College (DMRC), Dhaka City College, Dhanmondi Supreme College, Donia College, and other institutions, attacked Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College.
The incident, described as a retaliation for earlier tensions, resulted in now not lower than six automobiles being vandalised.
The protesters attempted to storm Kabi Nazrul Government College but absorb been unable to enter. Clashes between groups throwing brick chunks left now not lower than 30 folk injured.
The identical day protesters centered Dhaka National Scientific College Sanatorium, where a pupil from Mollah College, Avijit, had died on 18 November, allegedly on account of negligence. The demonstrators vandalised the sanatorium’s gate and shattered glass panels.
On 26 November, 35-year-frail advocate Saiful Islam Alif became once attacked and killed approach the Chattogram district collector’s location of business and courtroom. He became once brutally assaulted while returning home from courtroom.
These incidents judge a troubling trend in Bangladesh where folk now not exact rob to the streets with demands and grievances, but appear to will in all probability be predisposed to rob the law in their hold palms.
While exercising their constitutional lawful to disclose (Article 37), they recurrently disrupt public and non-public property, violate residents’ lawful to free movement (Article 36), and at instances, lead to the loss of lives.
After years of in vogue negate repression where folk absorb been terrified of raising their converse even on social media, it’s understandable that there’s an outpouring of expression from folk of all walks of existence. Nonetheless, one wants to be cognisant of where the line lawful to disclose encroaches on the lawful to free movement, both of that are guaranteed by the Bangladesh Structure.
Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua explains the constitutional parameters of protests.
“The structure mentions the term ‘composed disclose.’ Everytime you is at risk of be violent—breaking issues or hurting others—it’s now not a disclose but a mob,” he says.
“And when it turns into a mob, the police can intervene to make particular public safety. So long as your disclose is composed and with out provocation, no one can cast off you. But even then, your disclose must admire others’ rights as successfully,” Barua added.
Barua attributes the rising unrest to the long-standing suppression of oldsters’s voices.
“What we’re seeing now could per chance well be the aftermath of 16 years of suppression. Other folks’s wants and grievances absorb been now not great for years, and the madden and distress are now pouring out,” he says.
This phenomenon will also be likened to catharsis—the psychological capability of releasing repressed emotions.
Barua elaborates, “It’s esteem a psychological outburst. When you is at risk of be silenced for years, you is at risk of be looking for to must shout to absorb yourself heard. That is what we’re witnessing—folk screaming, breaking, even killing.”
Barua emphasises that the authorities must channel this outburst constructively by listening to the folk.
“A declare of listening is vital. The authorities wants to sit with the folk, realize their perspectives, and confidently address truthful demands,” he suggests.
While Barua underscores the need for dialogue, metropolis planner Md Iqbal Habib proposes a complementary approach: designated public spaces for protests.
“Developing spaces for protests ensures the lawful to assemble with out infringing on others’ lawful to free movement,” Habib states.
This thought contains transitioning from catharsis to sublimation, a psychological defence mechanism that channels negative impulses into constructive stores.
Providing devoted spaces for protests could per chance well prevent negative traits and restore the steadiness between conflicting rights.
The role of public plazas
At some level of the sphere, cities designate public plazas as spaces for protests. Habib offers examples: “London’s Hyde Park hosts protests year-round, and every person is aware of that. Geneva has Damaged Chair, and vital cities esteem Istanbul, Cairo, and Original York absorb designated disclose solutions.”
In Bangladesh, designated disclose spaces absorb been once phase of political be aware. “Till the Nineteen Nineties, Paltan Maidan and Suhrawardy Uddyan (previously Racecourse Maidan) absorb been the principle assembly solutions.
After the mass protests towards autocrat Long-established Ershad, protests started spreading to other areas esteem Shahbagh and Dhanmondi. Now, protests can erupt wherever—blockading roads, offices, and even courtroom premises,” Habib says.
Habib solutions out that the shortage of planning has ended in chaos. “Protests now resemble prairie fires—destroying offices, automobiles, and even setting public transport ablaze with passengers interior. It’s change into a enviornment: if demands are now not met, protesters threaten to burn all the pieces down,” he observes.
To address this, Habib recommends incorporating public plazas into metropolis planning.
“The term ‘public location’ has many definitions, one of which is a location where folk can assemble. When you look into the planning of 1959, Dhaka’s Paltan Moidan and Suhrawardy Park (the dilapidated racecourse Moidan), became once where folk assembled and protested”, he acknowledged.
Altering political practices and putting in place mutual admire for others, and suitable metropolis planning with mountainous public areas are vital, per him.
With this, Iqbal shared an thought with us. “We noticed that GPO became once moved from Baitul Mokarram to Agargaon and the frail GPO building now stands there with none vital activities, principally aged as a godown.”
“So we proposed that this land will in all probability be remodeled into a public plaza, esteem Paltan Maidan. If a community or a neighborhood of oldsters wants to disclose approach the secretariat, this plaza would be an supreme location with out blockading any roads or public movement”, he added.
Moreover this one, the authorities can reopen Suhrawardy Uddyan and absorb one fragment of the park a public assembly location.
“And lastly, the frail airport in Agargaon has a large land exact lying around. Take a fraction of that put and turn it into a public location. This approach Dhaka metropolis can absorb multiple areas in vital areas designated for protests, with out blockading public roads and their movement”, he added.
Barrister Barua moreover is of the same opinion to this.
“Dhaka’s traffic arrangement is so unregulated- composed managed manually- that until a suitable mechanism with public areas in metropolis planning is developed, these protests are going to bog down folk’s lives.”
How law enforcement agencies can play a job here
Law enforcement moreover has a vital role in managing protests.
Barua highlights the need for a balanced approach: “Some groups are exploiting the authorities’s perceived weak point true via transitions. They goal to destabilise peace. The authorities must rob decisive actions, even at the price of being unpopular, as now not all demands are cheap.”
The Police Act of 1861 and the DMP Ordinance of 1976 empower law enforcement to make particular public safety and free movement.
“While residents don’t favor police permission to assemble, the police can redirect or restrict assemblies to make particular safety and offer various areas,” Barua explains.
Younger political leaders moreover stress the importance of balancing rights and tasks.
Nasir Uddin Prince, dilapidated now not unusual secretary of the Socialist College students’ Front, asserts, “Democracy has limits. It does not imply doing whatever one wants. You cannot waste college structures or put of residing transport ablaze in the title of disclose.”
Prince emphasises verbal change with authorities.
“When we organise marches interior our campus, we don’t speak the police. But when we rob to the roads, we uncover them—now not for permission, but for safety,” he says.
Enamul Haque Sagor, AIG of DMP Media and Public Household, provides that law enforcement recurrently prepares proactively.
“Even when protests are now not formally notified, we acquire intelligence via our networks to make particular public safety and contend with any incidents,” he explains.
The rising unrest in Bangladesh reflects a complex interplay of suppressed emotions, political custom, and inadequate metropolis planning.
Addressing this requires a multifaceted approach, and by balancing catharsis with sublimation and planning, Bangladesh can uphold both the lawful to disclose and the lawful to free movement, restoring harmony in its cities.
