Alam is the co-founder of Dhaka-based Drik Picture Library, a photo agency set up in 1989, and he also established the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in 1998.

At least seven photojournalists who were taking pictures of the protests were allegedly attacked by activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League party.

Over the past two weeks, students have taken to the streets to criticise the state of Bangladesh’s roads after a bus driver lost control of his speeding vehicle on July 29, killing two students and injuring 12 others.

Last year alone, road accidents claimed 7,400 lives and left over 16,000 others injured, according to a report by the Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association.

Bangladeshi students shout slogans and block a road during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug. 04.
Bangladeshi students shout slogans and block a road during a protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug. 04.
Image: AP Photo/A. M. Ahad

The protests turned violent over the weekend, with police using tear gas and rubber bullets to disrupt the crowd. And government supporters reportedly attacked protesters with scraps of metal and even tree branches, injuring around 200 people, according to the New York Times.

The attacks on photojournalists are the latest sign of the challenges to freedom of expression in a country ranked 146 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index. In recent years, critics of the Bangladesh government, besides secular bloggers, have borne the brunt of violence. Self-censorship is on the rise among fearful journalists.

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