A distressing video of people falling off a building in Bangladesh is circulating with false communal claims on social media. The captions claim that Hindu students were attacked in Dhaka's Hindu hostel by students of Jamat-e-Islami.
BOOM found that the incident is from Chittagong where 21 leaders and party workers from the Chhatra League were pushed from the terrace of a five-storied building.
The video shows distressing visuals of people hanging on to their lives by holding water pipes and standing on narrow cornices as several fall to the ground.
Bangladesh witnessed violent clashes after a deadly crackdown by the police and the formerly Sheikh Hasina led governnment on students protesting the quota system for public sector jobs in the country. As many as 200 people were reported dead in the ensuing clashes, leading to Hasina resigning from her post as prime minister and a new government being formed.
According to reports, the capital city of Dhaka is inching back to normalcy, after a weeklong clampdown on internet and other services to prevent further clashes.
A Facebook user shared the video with a caption in English, "*Horrible*... *In Hindu hostel Dhaka, Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami attacked , see how students hang from Cornice. How many felled & jumped out in fear , whether alive or dead , God knows.*... "
Note: The visuals are distressing in nature. Readers discretion advised.
Click here to see the video and here for an archive. The video is also circulating with captions in Hindi and Bangla on Facebook.
Fact Check
BOOM first ran a keyword search on YouTube related to students being deliberately thrown off the roof of a multistoried building in Bangladesh.
We found distressing visuals of students hanging on to the water pipes and parapets as others hurl stones on them from the terrace. The video was uploaded by Maasranga News, a YouTube channel July 16, 2024.
According to the report, the incident is from Muradpur in Chattogram and the victims were members of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League the ruling government in Bangladesh.
Click here to see.
We also ran a related keyword search and found a news report published by Dhaka Post on July 17. The article reported that the video is from a face off between the protesters and Chhatra League members which led to shooting and targetted attacks on the protesters.
According to the report, protesters attacked Chhatra League members in return and started pushing them off from the roof of a multistoried building in Muradpur. They also threw bricks on those who were hanging from the grills and the building walls. . The report notes that Chhatra League members also endured mob beatings at the time.
Dhaka Tribune also reported the same incident on July 17. As per the news report, 15 Chhatra League members were injured after falling from the building. An eye-witness told the news outlet, the building seen in the viral video is named Mir Manzil.
The report further states, Chhatra League leader Nurul Azim claimed that 29 of their members were injured in the face off and they are currently under treatment in a hospital. Further, we also found a video shot from the terrace of the same building.
According to the caption of the Facebook post, Chhatra League workers had initially started shooting at students at Chattogram. At one time, they entered a building in Muradpur and started hurling stones at students. Later, students climbed the stairs to the rooftops while being chased by stone pelting protesters and attempted to escape by jumping off the terrace. A student is heard saying in Chattogram's local dialect, "Get up, we will not beat. If you fall, you will die."