July 20-23, 2024: CarrZee: One of the most interesting things about the past week was that those living in London, UK violently resisted the idea that Bangladeshi leaders should be able to discriminate and hand out favors to selected voters … and by implication resisting that colonialists should still be dominating in Asia. (This story was previously hacked.)
A riot in London mimicked worse clashes in Bangladesh over favoritism for students who are related to soldiers and former military personnel.
The courts started and sought to end the unrest driven by a government decision perceived to give preferences to public service jobs and university placements for supporters of PM Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, according to the Financial Times (see below) and other reports.
Pot-plant protest — the scene in London, England
My sources in the Bangladesh community in London told how this riot (in the video above) was a culmination of clashes Thursday between supporters of the ruling party in Bangladesh and those supporting the opposition. It’s unclear which side started the violence so far from the contested quota decisions in Asia.
East London has a big Bangladesh community. (On Thursday there were also riots in Leeds, England, apparently about an unrelated child protection incident from people in the Romanian community.)
Back in the capital, a group of rowdy individuals approached the Micro Business Park near the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, where men from inside the park hurled items including pot plants and fold-up chairs.
There had been clashes earlier in the day, I was told.
Earlier this year, the US said elections in Bangladesh were not free and fair, the U.S. State Department said, concerned by reports of voting irregularities and condemned violence that took place (Reuters). Hasina swept to a fourth straight term in power, with her party winning almost 75% of the seats in the general election.
The UK and US governments have put themself up as being appropriate to teach the world about human rights protection … guiding the Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) accused of operating as a “death squad”.
This is despite Britain’s and the US’s complicity in the violence in Gaza, where babies and children are routinely shot by snipers, bombed by their ally Israel, crushed by collapsing buildings, starved …. and left shaken and trembling in almost-unimaginable horror.
The cable below shows the US and the UK were reviewing their “ongoing training to make the RAB a more transparent, accountable and human-rights compliant paramilitary force”.
Riiiight. More than 130 people have died in the recent violence in Bangladesh. These deaths can’t be attributed solely to RAB officers, according to reports I’ve seen.
Still, some reports indicate “shoot on sight” orders. Eg this.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Monday said the U.S. condemns “reported shoot-on-sight orders” that are part of a crackdown on the protests.
“The United States is concerned by reports of ongoing telecommunications disruptions in Bangladesh,” Miller told reporters, referring to a state-imposed internet and mobile connectivity shutdown that continued Monday, reported Reuters.
Habibur Rahman, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s commissioner, told reporters on Monday that police have arrested more than 600 people, mostly in Dhaka, for violent acts during the protests.
The quota system under question in the Asian nation could be seen as the installation of a “class system” … something England is famous for.
WikiLeaks cable reveals the UK, US training
Perhaps it’s time for Bangladesh to turn elsewhere for help on human rights protection.
