Look back at Aug 4: Lights off inside, gunfire outside

“Mother, I am at home, not going outside. Please don’t worry about me,” Sharika Jahan, a private university student, reassured her mother over the phone from Birdem Hospital on the evening of August 4.
While she spoke to her mother, gunshots echoed just outside the hospital doors.
Her voice, though calm, couldn’t mask the underlying fear.
Sharika had fled to the hospital waiting room from the chaos at Shahbagh intersection. The police had fired on the protesters, causing panic and fear.
“I didn’t tell my mother I joined the protest. If she knew, she might fall ill due to worry. I don’t want to scare her,” Sharika tearfully told The Daily Star around 6:15pm.
“I was just joining a procession carrying four bodies. When we reached Shahbagh intersection from Shaheed Minar, police started firing. After hearing several rounds, I ran into the hospital waiting room,” she said, her voice trembling.
Sharika’s fear intensified when hospital authorities turned off the lights on the first floor.
Visiting the hospital, this correspondent found that as protesters entered the hospital, the staff turned off the lights in the waiting rooms, saying, “If the police see students inside the hospital, it may pose a risk.”
Four other female students found Sharika crying and tried to console her. Over 60 protesters were trapped in the hospital.
Earlier, a group of protesters brought out a procession with four dead bodies from Shaheed Minar. When they reached the Shahbagh Police Station, some of the protesters started hurling brick chunks at the station.
In response, police started lobbing sound grenades and firing teargas shells at them, forcing them to disperse.
A female student from a public university, wishing anonymity, said, “I don’t know how to go home. Only my brother knows I’m here, but he can’t come to Shahbagh because of the police presence.”
This correspondent spoke with eight female students, all of whom shared similarly harrowing experiences. They didn’t go outside and stayed in the hospital for over three hours, fearing arrest by police or attacks by ruling party activists.
Sharmin Haq, a student of Southeast University, said, “My friends and are stuck in the hospital. We don’t know how to get out. It’s now 9:30 pm, and we’ve been here for almost three hours.”
Sharmin’s home is in Mirpur-10, while her friends live in Gulshan-1, Badda, Banasree, and Fakirapool.
Meanwhile, the tense situation began around 12:30pm with a large gathering in front of the hospital at Shahbagh.
Shila Akhter, a patient receiving treatment at the hospital from Old Dhaka, said, “I had a doctor’s appointment at 10:00am. My husband and I have been waiting here since then because it’s too dangerous outside.
“It’s now around 1:30pm, but I have no idea how to get home,” she added, her voice filled with uncertainty.
Another patient, Shahdat Hossain, said, “After waiting two hours in the hospital, I saw a young man brought in, brutally injured and bleeding from his chest. It was terrifying.
“My wife and two children are worried about me,” he added, the fear palpable in his voice.
Ambulance driver Shah Alom said he wasn’t going outside because “the situation is very scary. People with sticks are gathered in front of the hospital”.
He parked the ambulance inside the hospital parking zone due to the vandalism outside.