The Evening Wrap: At least 72 killed after violent clashes in Bangladesh

At least 72 people, including 14 policemen, were killed and hundreds injured on August 4 in fierce clashes between protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh on the first day of the non-cooperation movement over a government jobs quota system. The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending the non-cooperation programme under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination with the one-point demand of the government’s resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists. So far, 72 people have been killed in day-long clashes across the country, the leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported. According to the police headquarters, 14 policemen have been killed. Of them, 13 were killed in Sirajganj’s Enayetpur police station. One person was killed in Comilla’s Elliotganj, the paper said. As violence escalated, the Home Ministry imposed an indefinite countrywide curfew from 6 p.m. today. A government agency has ordered the shutdown of Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. The mobile operators were ordered to shut down 4G mobile internet, the paper added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hasina said that those engaging in “sabotage” across the country in the name of protest are not students but terrorists and asked people to suppress them with a firm hand. “I appeal to the countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a firm hand,” she said. Hasina called a meeting of the National Committee on Security Affairs at Ganabhaban, the paper reported, citing sources from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The meeting was attended by the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, police, RAB, BGB, and other top security officers. The meeting came as renewed violence spread to several parts of the country. The government has announced a three-day general holiday on August 5, 6 and 7 to ensure public safety amid the ongoing violent protests across the country. Wayanad landslide: More than 1,000 government employees engaged in 24x7 relief operations, says CMO More than a 1,000 government employees are currently engaged in the disaster management and relief operations in the landslide-ravaged regions in Wayanad district, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said on August 4. The 24x7 activities are being coordinated by the Civil Station at Kalpetta and the temporary control room opened at Chooralmala. Mobilised under 15 teams, the government staff are handling the coordination of the search and rescue effort, collection and distribution of relief materials, food and medicines, counselling, management of the technical teams, relief camps and landslide victims with medical conditions, collation of information of victims who are still missing, proper waste disposal and data management. “Specially-assigned teams are handling matters related to the bodies recovered from the landslide-hit regions,” Vijayan’s office said. This includes their identification and hand-over to family members and cremation of unclaimed bodies and the paperwork related to autopsies. “Government departments dealing with the disaster management and rescue operations are filing daily reports to the State government,” the CMO said. Parents hoping to adopt orphans of Wayanad landslide may not have their wish granted Compassionate parents hoping to adopt orphans of Wayanad landslide may not have their wish granted. After registering themselves with the government agencies handling the adoption, they will have to wait in the queue. Even then, they cannot exercise the option of selecting the children from Wayanad and have to pick a baby who comes up for adoption when their turn arrives. Currently, there are 1,904 registered parents and 116 babies, who are Legally Free for Adoption in the list maintained by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), Kerala. Last year, 114 children were given in for adoption in the State, which included 99 in-country and 15 inter-country adoptions. Incidentally, a few parents had contacted various agencies expressing their willingness to adopt the Wayanad children. Currently, it is estimated that the landslide has robbed five children of their parents. Those at the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Wayanad and the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) too had received a few similar requests. Olympics 2024: Indian men’s hockey team enters semifinals; Lakshya Sen, Lovlina Borgohain bow out A 10-man India, toughened by sessions of mental training with Paddy Upton and adventurer Mike Horn, showed character in a nerve-wracking, drama-filled quarterfinal contest to edge past Great Britain through penalty shootout in the Olympics at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Paris on August 4. The Tokyo Olympics bronze medal winning Indians beat the Britons 4-2 in a tense shootout following a 1-1 deadlock in the regulation period and claimed a spot in the semifinals in successive Games. Playing with one man down for nearly three quarters, India quickly adapted to the unexpected situation and displayed one of its best shows of clinical and compact defence in a do-or-die situation. Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet, Lalit Upadhyay and Raj Kumar Pal scored for India in the shootout. There was a halt prior to Sukhjeet’s attempt as British goalkeeper Ollie Payne appeared to have used an iPad on the pitch, which apparently is not allowed in the rule books. The device was removed before action resumed. In badminton, India’s dream of a first-ever Olympic gold will remain unfulfilled after Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning champion Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles semifinals. The 22-year-old from Almora, a world championships bronze medallist, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash. Sen will get another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff. India’s boxing campaign came to a medal-less end after Tokyo edition bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) bowed out following a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to China’s Li Qian in the women’s competition. Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the Tokyo Games silver-winning 34-year-old in a messy contest during which both the boxers were repeatedly cautioned for clinching and holding. The 26-year-old’s loss ended India’s boxing campaign in the Olympics after Nishant Dev was ousted from the men’s 71kg quarterfinals on Saturday night, also a close contest. IOC calls tests that sparked vitriol targeting boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting impossibly flawed Olympics organizers said on August 4 that arbitrary testing imposed on boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting that led to a storm of vitriol misidentifying the women as transgender or men was “so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it.” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams again vigorously defended Khelif of Algeria and Lin of Taiwan, hammering the sport’s now-banned governing body, the International Boxing Association, that claimed the fighters failed unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition. The two athletes were “carted off and tested” during the 2023 boxing world championships because “there were suspicions against them,” Adams said, slamming the process that singled them out. “I need hardly say if we start acting on suspicions against every athlete of whatever, then we go down a very bad route,” he said. He rejected the testing in its entirety. “There’s a whole range of reasons why we won’t deal with this,” Adams said. “Partly confidentiality. Partly medical issues. “Partly that there was no basis for the test in the first place. And, partly data sharing of this is also highly against the rules, international rules.” “The whole process is flawed,” Adams added. “From the conception of the test, to how the test was shared with us, to how the tests have become public, is so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it.” Lin and Khelif have been at the centre of a clash over gender identity and regulations in sports as critics have brought up their disqualification last year after the IBA claimed they failed “to meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” The Russian-dominated governing body was given the unprecedented punishment of being permanently banned from the Olympics last year and has not run an Olympic boxing tournament since the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Fears of wider war spike after strikes on Gaza kill 18 and stabbing in Israel kills 2 Israeli strikes early on August 4 killed 18 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb. Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war. A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was “neutralised.” The rescuers said the wounded were found in three different locations, each about 500m apart. Police initially said they were searching for other suspects but later ruled out the possibility of there having been more than one assailant. “In Gaza, an Israeli strike earlier on Sunday hit a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others,” Gaza’s Health Ministry said. An Associated Press journalist filmed men rushing to the scene to help the wounded and retrieve bodies, while trying to extinguish the fire. The Israeli military said it targeted a Palestinian militant in the strike, which it said caused secondary explosions, “indicating the presence of weaponry in the area.” The hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main medical facility operating in central Gaza, and thousands of people have taken shelter there after fleeing their homes in the war-ravaged territory. A separate strike on a home near Deir al-Balah killed a girl and her parents, according to the hospital. Another strike flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the ministry. Another three people were killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza City, according to the Civil Defence — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government. In Brief: Indian spinners led by Washington Sundar put the batters through a test of skill, but Sri Lanka found just enough fight from their late order to make an acceptable 240 for nine in the second ODI in Colombo on August 4. Washington Sundar (3/30) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/33) were at their smartest on a pitch that offered them plenty of assistance after Lankan captain Charith Asalanka decided to bat first. It required a 72-run association for the seventh wicket between Dunith Wellalage (39) and Kamindu Mendis (40) for them to wriggle out of a stifling 136 for six. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 04 August 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( 72 killed as protesters and ruling party supporters clash in Bangladesh At least [72 people, including 14 policemen, were killed and hundreds injured]( on August 4 in fierce clashes between protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh on the first day of the non-cooperation movement over a government jobs quota system. The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending the non-cooperation programme under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination with the one-point demand of the government’s resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists. So far, 72 people have been killed in day-long clashes across the country, the leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported. According to the police headquarters, 14 policemen have been killed. Of them, 13 were killed in Sirajganj’s Enayetpur police station. One person was killed in Comilla’s Elliotganj, the paper said. As violence escalated, the Home Ministry imposed an indefinite countrywide curfew from 6 p.m. today. A government agency has ordered the shutdown of Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. The mobile operators were ordered to shut down 4G mobile internet, the paper added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hasina said that those engaging in “sabotage” across the country in the name of protest are not students but terrorists and asked people to suppress them with a firm hand. “I appeal to the countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a firm hand,” she said. Hasina called a meeting of the National Committee on Security Affairs at Ganabhaban, the paper reported, citing sources from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The meeting was attended by the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, police, RAB, BGB, and other top security officers. The meeting came as renewed violence spread to several parts of the country. The government has announced a three-day general holiday on August 5, 6 and 7 to ensure public safety amid the ongoing violent protests across the country. Wayanad landslide: More than 1,000 government employees engaged in 24x7 relief operations, says CMO [More than a 1,000 government employees are currently engaged in the disaster management and relief operations]( in the landslide-ravaged regions in Wayanad district, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said on August 4. The 24x7 activities are being coordinated by the Civil Station at Kalpetta and the temporary control room opened at Chooralmala. Mobilised under 15 teams, the government staff are handling the coordination of the search and rescue effort, collection and distribution of relief materials, food and medicines, counselling, management of the technical teams, relief camps and landslide victims with medical conditions, collation of information of victims who are still missing, proper waste disposal and data management. “Specially-assigned teams are handling matters related to the bodies recovered from the landslide-hit regions,” Vijayan’s office said. This includes their identification and hand-over to family members and cremation of unclaimed bodies and the paperwork related to autopsies. “Government departments dealing with the disaster management and rescue operations are filing daily reports to the State government,” the CMO said. Parents hoping to adopt orphans of Wayanad landslide may not have their wish granted [Compassionate parents hoping to adopt orphans of Wayanad landslide may not have their wish granted](. After registering themselves with the government agencies handling the adoption, they will have to wait in the queue. Even then, they cannot exercise the option of selecting the children from Wayanad and have to pick a baby who comes up for adoption when their turn arrives. Currently, there are 1,904 registered parents and 116 babies, who are Legally Free for Adoption in the list maintained by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), Kerala. Last year, 114 children were given in for adoption in the State, which included 99 in-country and 15 inter-country adoptions. Incidentally, a few parents had contacted various agencies expressing their willingness to adopt the Wayanad children. Currently, it is estimated that the landslide has robbed five children of their parents. Those at the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Wayanad and the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) too had received a few similar requests. Olympics 2024: Indian men’s hockey team enters semifinals; Lakshya Sen, Lovlina Borgohain bow out A 10-man India, toughened by sessions of mental training with Paddy Upton and adventurer Mike Horn, showed character in a nerve-wracking, drama-filled quarterfinal contest to [edge past Great Britain through penalty shootout]( in the [Olympics]( at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Paris on August 4. The Tokyo Olympics bronze medal winning [Indians beat the Britons 4-2]( in a tense shootout following a 1-1 deadlock in the regulation period and claimed a spot in the semifinals in successive Games. Playing with one man down for nearly three quarters, India quickly adapted to the unexpected situation and displayed one of its best shows of clinical and compact defence in a do-or-die situation. Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet, Lalit Upadhyay and Raj Kumar Pal scored for India in the shootout. There was a halt prior to Sukhjeet’s attempt as British goalkeeper Ollie Payne appeared to have used an iPad on the pitch, which apparently is not allowed in the rule books. The device was removed before action resumed. In badminton, India’s dream of a first-ever Olympic gold will remain unfulfilled after [Lakshya Sen suffered a straight-game defeat to reigning champion Viktor Axelsen]( in the men’s singles semifinals. The 22-year-old from Almora, a world championships bronze medallist, squandered a three-point advantage in the first game and a 7-0 lead in the second to surrender 20-22 14-21 to the two-time world champion Axelsen in a 54-minute semifinal clash. Sen will get another chance to become the first Indian male shuttler to win an Olympic medal when he meets Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the bronze medal playoff. India’s boxing campaign came to a medal-less end after Tokyo edition bronze-winner [Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) bowed out]( following a hard-fought quarterfinal loss to China’s Li Qian in the women’s competition. Borgohain, the reigning world champion in the category, went down 1-4 to the Tokyo Games silver-winning 34-year-old in a messy contest during which both the boxers were repeatedly cautioned for clinching and holding. The 26-year-old’s loss ended India’s boxing campaign in the Olympics after Nishant Dev was ousted from the men’s 71kg quarterfinals on Saturday night, also a close contest. IOC calls tests that sparked vitriol targeting boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting impossibly flawed Olympics organizers said on August 4 that arbitrary testing imposed on boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting that led to a storm of vitriol misidentifying the women as transgender or men was “[so flawed that it’s impossible to engage]( with it.” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams again vigorously defended Khelif of Algeria and Lin of Taiwan, hammering the sport’s now-banned governing body, the International Boxing Association, that claimed the fighters failed unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition. The two athletes were “carted off and tested” during the 2023 boxing world championships because “there were suspicions against them,” Adams said, slamming the process that singled them out. “I need hardly say if we start acting on suspicions against every athlete of whatever, then we go down a very bad route,” he said. He rejected the testing in its entirety. “There’s a whole range of reasons why we won’t deal with this,” Adams said. “Partly confidentiality. Partly medical issues. “Partly that there was no basis for the test in the first place. And, partly data sharing of this is also highly against the rules, international rules.” “The whole process is flawed,” Adams added. “From the conception of the test, to how the test was shared with us, to how the tests have become public, is so flawed that it’s impossible to engage with it.” Lin and Khelif have been at the centre of a clash over gender identity and regulations in sports as critics have brought up their disqualification last year after the IBA claimed they failed “to meet the required necessary eligibility criteria and were found to have competitive advantages over other female competitors.” The Russian-dominated governing body was given the unprecedented punishment of being permanently banned from the Olympics last year and has not run an Olympic boxing tournament since the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Fears of wider war spike after strikes on Gaza kill 18 and stabbing in Israel kills 2 [Israeli strikes early on August 4 killed 18 people in Gaza]( including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced Palestinians inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb. Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war. A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was “neutralised.” The rescuers said the wounded were found in three different locations, each about 500m apart. Police initially said they were searching for other suspects but later ruled out the possibility of there having been more than one assailant. “In Gaza, an Israeli strike earlier on Sunday hit a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four people, including one woman, and injuring others,” Gaza’s Health Ministry said. An Associated Press journalist filmed men rushing to the scene to help the wounded and retrieve bodies, while trying to extinguish the fire. The Israeli military said it targeted a Palestinian militant in the strike, which it said caused secondary explosions, “indicating the presence of weaponry in the area.” The hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main medical facility operating in central Gaza, and thousands of people have taken shelter there after fleeing their homes in the war-ravaged territory. A separate strike on a home near Deir al-Balah killed a girl and her parents, according to the hospital. Another strike flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the ministry. Another three people were killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza City, according to the Civil Defence — first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government. In Brief: Indian spinners led by Washington Sundar put the batters through a test of skill, but [Sri Lanka found just enough fight from their late order to make an acceptable 240 for nine]( in the second ODI in Colombo on August 4. Washington Sundar (3/30) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/33) were at their smartest on a pitch that offered them plenty of assistance after Lankan captain Charith Asalanka decided to bat first. It required a 72-run association for the seventh wicket between Dunith Wellalage (39) and Kamindu Mendis (40) for them to wriggle out of a stifling 136 for six. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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