‘I felt my body go numb after being shot’: Vegetable seller Rana recounts at CMCH
Over 200 people were injured in widespread clashes across Chattogram today
Bullet-hit Mohammad Rana at Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Photo: Jobaer Chowdhury/TBS
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Bullet-hit Mohammad Rana at Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Photo: Jobaer Chowdhury/TBS
Mohammad Rana, 20, working at a vegetable shop in Riazuddin Bazar of Chattogram, went out for lunch at noon.
After his meal, he encountered a conflict as soon as he stepped onto the road. A loud noise erupted before he could understand what was happening. He was shot and fell to the ground.
“When I was being taken to the hospital, my body began to feel numb,” Rana described his injury to The Business Standard while lying on a bed in the casualty department of Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) this (4 August) evening.
Over 200 people were injured in widespread clashes across Chattogram today. At least 175 of these victims received treatment at CMCH alone, with many others treated at private facilities throughout the city.
Rana said he was shot in the chest during a clash between the protesters and Awami League men in the New Market area.
Rana recounted, “I left a restaurant in the Phalmondi area around 3pm after having lunch. When I came out onto the road, I saw the conflict. Awami League activists attacked with weapons from the station area. On my side, the students had taken their positions. Before I could move away safely, I was shot in the chest.”
The protesting students brought him to the hospital, he said.
Rana, a resident of Noakhali’s Senbagh, works in his uncle Zahidur Rahman’s shop in Chattogram.
Standing next to the hospital bed, Zahidur Rahman said, “We are not engaged in any political activities. Yet my nephew got shot.”
Another bullet-wounded patient, 17-year-old Mohammad Ismail was writhing in pain in the casualty department, with an oxygen mask over his mouth. He was unable to speak due to his pain.
During the clash, he was shot in the city’s Tin Pooler Matha area.
Ismail works in a locksmith shop near Golam Rasool Market in the Three Pools area.
Nazim Uddin, owner of the shop, told TBS, “Ismail left the shop around 12:30pm to have food. Awami League leaders and activists came from Nandankanan and started shooting at the students. Ismail was then shot on the left side of his chest.”
