‘Why was my child killed?’ Parents grieve a month after Bangladesh clashes

Grief-stricken parents share how their young children were killed during the July unrest and crackdowns on students.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – In the early afternoon of July 19, four-year-old Abdul Ahad was on the balcony of his family’s toy-strewn, rented apartment in Rayerbag neighbourhood when he saw a commotion on the street.

Abdul, loud, curious and always asking questions, called out to his father.

“Dad, look. Look what is happening,” he said to his father, Abul Hasan.

Abul peered down at the street below. The street, lined with tall apartment buildings, was usually filled with pedestrians, vegetable vendors, rickshaws and children playing cricket on the pavement. But it was a weekend and a curfew had been imposed that day following recent protests and clashes, and the street was quieter than usual.

Abul, 33, and his wife, Sumi Akhter, 26, joined Abdul on the balcony. Abdul’s older brother, Matubbar, 11, the quieter of the two siblings, was at his religious school where he lives and studies.

“There were clashes between two groups,” Abul recounts. A group of about 10 young people – likely student protesters – were throwing stones at a larger group of young men, widely believed to be supporters of the then-ruling Awami League party, who held sticks and other objects. “I couldn’t see clearly from the eighth floor what objects those were,” Abul says.

Abul does not recall any police presence. Mobile footage taken in the neighbourhood shown on Bangladeshi news channel Rtv shows at least one man in the larger group aiming with a gun. Abul remembers hearing people shouting and the distinct sound of gunshots.

Abdul fell to the ground.

In early July, students in Bangladesh had began peaceful protests against the reinstatement of