革命主導した若者ら、学校生活再開 バングラデシュ

【ダッカＡＦＰ＝時事】バングラデシュで数週間にわたって反政府デモを主導し、強権的な政治手法で知られたシェイク・ハシナ・ワゼド前首相を今月５日、辞任と国外脱出に追い込んだ若者たちが１８日、学校生活を再開した。（写真は、バングラデシュの首都ダッカで、再開した学校で授業に出席する生徒たち）
　首都ダッカのある学校では、デモの最前列で撃たれて死亡したシャフィク・ウディン・アーメド・アフナフさん（１７）の机にクラスメートらが花を置き、友人の死を悼んだ。
　別の公立学校の校長は、若者らは「１か月にわたるトラウマを乗り越え、授業再開を熱望している」と述べた。
　数週間続いた抗議デモでは、主に警察の発砲により４５０人が死亡した。その多くはアフナフさんのような若者だった。
　多くの若者は、抗議デモの参加者たちの「勇気」に感銘を受けたと述べた。
　マヒバ・ホサイン・ラヒーさん（１６）は「不正に対して抗議する勇気を持った人たちを誇りに思う」とＡＦＰに語った。デモの間は「この国の人々のことを考え、眠れない日々だった」という。彼女は「これ以上血が流れるのは嫌」だと言い、国が良い方向に変化することを期待していると語った。
　自宅に数週間閉じこもっていた１０年生のナイファ・タヒンさん（１６）は、授業再開は「家に帰ってきたような気分」だと述べた。
　バングラデシュ暫定政権の首席顧問に就任したノーベル平和賞受賞者で経済学者のムハマド・ユヌス氏（８４）は、制度崩壊に苛まれた国を民主的に改革するという重大な仕事に取り組むために欧州から帰国した。
　タヒンさんは「今は我慢するしかない」と言った。「私たちの国はまるで生まれたばかりの子どもで、これから築いていくのだから」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/20-21:05）

After weeks of deadly student-led protests in Bangladesh toppled the autocratic premier, among the first things children at a school in the capital Dhaka did when they returned to class was honour their slain friend.
Shafiq Uddin Ahmed Ahnaf, 17, was on the frontlines of the demonstrations this month when he was shot and killed.
While much remains politically uncertain in Bangladesh, two weeks after then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India, the reopening of schools on Sunday was a sign of daily life returning to normal.
Many of the 450 people who were killed -- most by police fire -- in the weeks of protests leading up to Hasina's August 5 ouster were students like Ahnaf.
And on Sunday, the first day back in class since the unrest, the slain boy's classmates honoured him by placing a bouquet on the desk he once occupied, Dhaka media reported.
Mazeda Begum, principal at another public school in Dhaka, said students were keen to return to the classroom after going through the month-long trauma.
Begum is planning a cultural programme so that they can get back their mental strength.
- 'Brave' -
Her colleague, English teacher Riah Hyder, cancelled her holiday to be there for the resumption of classes.
This is the most important thing for us -- that students have come back to school, she said.
Many students said they had been inspired by the courage of the protesters.
I'm proud of them because they were brave enough to protest against the malpractice, said 16-year-old schoolgirl Mahiba Hossain Rahee.
Rahee, her hair in neat pigtails and dressed in a blue uniform, said she had spent sleepless nights thinking about the people of my country during the protests.
Those days were really bad, she told AFP, adding she hoped her country would change for the better.
We don't want any more blood to shed, she said. We want a happy nation.
- 'Newborn' nation -
Tenth-grade schoolgirl Naifa Tahin spent weeks holed up in her house in the capital Dhaka, but said returning to class felt like a homecoming.
The 16-year-old said she was excited to be back learning, seeing her friends -- and expressed hope for a better future for their country.
For the past few weeks, we were not able to come back to school and attend classes and not see my classmates. In my mind there was a kind of restlessness working, she said.
So being finally back... feels very nice, Tahin added. It feels like I'm back at home.
Bangladesh's interim leader, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, returned from Europe to take up the monumental task of steering democratic reforms in the country riven by institutional decay.
Right now, all we can do is stay patient, Tahin said.
Our country is under construction because it's kind of a newborn baby.