The list began spreading from phone to phone on Saturday, just as police were starting to fire teargas and rubber bullets at protesters in Dhaka demonstrating for safer roads.
“Please pass these addresses to trusted people through Messenger or text message,” it read. Names, phone numbers and locations were listed: sanctuaries for students fleeing a police crackdown.
“If anyone needs shelter around Jigatola or Dhanmondi, come to my place,” one student wrote.
“Take shelter please – the situation is getting worse,” said another.
The next day, as armed men alleged to be supporters of Bangladesh’s ruling party entered the fray, beating protesters and journalists, more people added their names and addresses to the list.
Then police started raiding their homes.
Wazir, a recent high school graduate involved in the protests, was on a Facebook thread with several students who had listed their houses as shelters.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, one of them, Mahmoud, suddenly exited the thread. Photos and posts began to disappear from his Facebook wall. The group began to fill with panicked messages. Why had he vanished?
“He’s doing the smart thing,” one of the boys wrote. “He’s saving us.”
The Bangladeshi capital was paralysed for nine days, starting at the end of July, by protests involving tens of thousands of students.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
