Resistance, Unrest, Protest and Demonstration Provoked by COVID-19: A Case Study of Bangladesh

Covid-19, the pandemic, has been wreaking havoc all around the globe including Bangladesh since its inception in China. Not only has the virus been a great threat to human life, but it has also affected the economic, political, and social aspects of life-generating resistance issues, a number of unrests, protests, and demonstrations. This study, following a mixed methodology, tries to identify the incidence and nature of these social issues brought about by Covid-19. The study finds that both the expatriates and the residents of the country continuously defied the lockdown and social distancing rules as the government had tried to contain the covid19 through those measures. While the motive for the expatriates was to get away from the authorities and get back home, apathy to follow the new rules, food and work opportunities, job security, and even marriage was the stimulus for the general people to bypass the laws. Unrests like the spreading of rumors, price hikes, a rise of crime, etc. shook all 64 districts of the country. Covid-19, directly or indirectly, provoked more than 250 protests and demonstrations. While the existence of demand for relief or complaints regarding relief distribution was the main incentive for the people of all ages and occupations, reasons such as demand for remuneration and incentives, safety equipment and facilities, closure of educational institutions as well as hospitals, halting specialized hospitals were evident.

Resistance, in a general sense, refers to denial to accept someone or something. Resistance, in the paper, refers to the refusal of the people of Bangladesh to abide by the new rules and restrictions such as lockdown measures, social distancing rules, provision to make the masks mandatory etc. imposed by the Government to contain the covid-19. The term also encompasses the actions and/or innovations of the law-abiding citizens while combating others' improper behavior, social problems, etc. Unrest indicates the social problems such as spreading of rumors, price hike, increase of crime and violence against women, and challenges against freedom of expression that the covid-19 has given rise to. Protest and demonstration consist of issues like demand for relief/support, improper distribution and/or corruption, asking for rights and remuneration, and safeguarding own rights.
The objective of the study has been to explore the incidence and nature of the Covid-19 caused issues, resistance, unrest, protest and demonstration, in Bangladesh. The study demanded mixed methodology and data collection as well as analysis to be applied and so a blend of qualitative and quantitative data is used. The data are collected from eleven leading dailies of Bangladesh: Prothom Alo, Jugantor, Daily Observer, Daily Star, New age, Financial Express, Naya Diganta, Kaler Kantho, Business Standard, Dhaka Tribune and also news from a few online web portals those are related to the subject matter of the study. All the data come from news of the sources from March 10, 2020 to May 6, 2020. However, the study has several limitations. The study has used the data from news sources to explore the incidence of the issues. It is acknowledged that data from newspapers can be biased, unreliable, politically influenced, and entertain-centered, not fact-centered. But major research traditions in social movements have used the newspapers as data sources. Newspaper event data was used as the basis in the development of political process model (Jenkins & Perrow, 1977). Studies on political opportunities (Tarrow, 1989), protest cycles (Koopmans, 1993), ethnic violence (Olzak, 1992), rioting (Danzger, 1975), global collective action (Taylor & Jodice, 1983), and repression and protest control (Earl, et al., 2003) have relied on this kind of data. In additions, the study didn't explore the theo-retical domain as it had been accepted that the incidences were happening and the idea was to investigate their intensity and nature. As a result, more focus was laid upon the collection and analysis of primary data. Despite having several limitations, the study chronologically discloses the incidence and nature of Covid-19 precipitated resistance, unrest, protest and demonstration happening in Bangladesh.

COVID-Generated Resistance Issues
Since the inception of Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh, the government has been trying hard to maintain social distancing and lockdown procedures. But the citizens have shown significant resistance to those decisions and often violated the restrictions imposed on them. Before the cases emerged in March, the government had been trying hard to quarantine the in-coming expatriates. But the returnees had shown significant resistance to that decision. Some tried to flee the quarantine (New Age, 2020), some protested (Daily Observer, 2020), and some just made farce of quarantine (Daily Star, 2020). They just roamed around in quarantine (Daily Star, 2020). In response, they were often fined by the local authorities and law enforcing administration (Prothom Alo, 2020).

Case Study 1: Bangladesh sees mad rush for home despite ban on public transports
The authorities close all public transport services on railways, waterways, and domestic airways in the country while thousands of people overcrowd the terminals in the capital as the government announced a 10-day public holiday yesterday. Movement of passénger trains, launches, and domestic flights would remain suspended until further notice to check the spread of covid-19. Road transport and bridges ministry also imposes a 10-day ban on movement of all public transports on roads from tomorrow. All goods carrying vehicles on roads, railways and water-ways remain outside the purview of the bans. Soon after the government declared holiday for government and nongovernment organizations, thousands of people started to leave Dhaka which has turned into a mad rush on the following day. Different trains and launches cram with passengers while no special measures are taken to tackle such rush at these terminals and for following health directives to avoid coronavirus infection. Bus passengers suffer more due to extra fares charged by bus owners plying different routes and many of them are forced to get on goods carrying vehicles risking their lives. The government on Monday declared the public holidays for between March 26 and April 4 for maintaining social isolation which the experts suggested to prevent the coronavirus spread. On the previous day, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, at a press briefing, requested the employees to stay at home to prevent coronavirus stating that the public holiday was not declared for celebration but to stay at home. The mad rush to leave the city began after that and thousands of people were seen at all railway, waterways, and bus terminals in the capital. Several homebound people said that they were going to their ancestral homes as they felt Dhaka was more vulnerable to the spread of the virus compared with their village homes while others said that since they were given a long vacation, they would like to spend it with their families.
Fines against drivers (Daily Observer, 2020) and cases couldn't stop the people. The covid-19 continued to spread as carriers and affected people relentlessly roamed around the country. The social distancing procedures had dealt another great blow on April 17, 2020 (Dhaka Tribune, 2020) as nearly one hundred thousand people from different districts attended the Namaj-e-Janaza prayer (Islamic funeral prayer) of an Islamic leader in Brahmanbaria district. Thousands came from different districts and the home minister later responded notifying that they didn't know anything about the incident beforehand (Prothom Alo, 2020).
This event marked another big failure in controlling public movement. While trying to identify the reasons behind public movement, it has been identified that food and work was the main factors causing public movement. A report entitled 'People defy national shutdown in search of food and work' on New age (March 31, 2020) shows us public desperation in search for food and work as the poor roamed around the capital (Dhaka) despite high infection risk as well as high restrictions by the authority. The poor were also seen on street corners on April 25 as the shutdown continued (New Age, 2020). A female food seeker quoted: "I came here to collect food as I need to feed my children…where do I get food? I waited a few days but came out on the street today." (New Age, 2020) Another job-seeking day laborer lamented for lack of job opportunities saying: "I am an able-bodied man. How can I take to begging?"(New Age, 2020).
Though the food and work were the main factors pulling people out of their residuals, they weren't the only ones. Private tuition was another factor causing public movement. The local authorities fined and jailed private tutors on several occasions (New Age, 2020; Daily Star, 2020; Jugantor, 2020; Daily Observer, 2020). Job security was another high impact pull factor. Thousands of RMG workers rushed back to their working areas in fear of losing their jobs on April 4, 2020 (Daily Star, 2020). Another engrossing factor pulling people out of government restrictions was marriage. Many people chose the public holiday due to covid-19 as a suitable occasion for getting married. This was a so compelling idea that even some government officials fell into its prey! A civil surgeon in Brahmanbaria was the first of a few government officials (among reported ones) to cause a gathering by getting married and thus defied governmental rules and regulations (New Age, 2020). In this occasion, several doctors attended accompanied by nearly three hundred attendees. Another government official, an Upazila family planning officer in Sonargaon, Narayanganj was fined Tk 10,000 by mobile court for arranging marriage ceremony . In both cases, the offenders claimed that the dates of occasions were pre-determined. But these acts show us that even the government officials were not aware of or not ready to abide by the restrictions introduced by the Government.

Case Study 2: Youth from capital shows innovation by demonstrating relief distribution while maintaining social distance
The government had asked all the citizens to stay at home and maintain social distance to prevent the spread of covid-19. Responding to that, citizens were staying at their own residence. But day-laborers and people with low income had fallen into trouble. In response, the wealthy were extending their helping hands to the distressed. Distributing relief had become challenging as it was creating gatherings that hampered social distancing. This was creating risks of exposure towards covid-19. In these circumstances, three youth from Dhaka has demonstrated an innovative way of relief distribution. Before relief distribution, they drew circles, maintaining a distance of three feet, and placed one receiver in each of the circles. After the first person receives the relief and leaves, the next person enters the circle. In such a way all the distressed collected relief on by one. The threeyouth distributed 450 kilograms of rice, lentil, and potato on the day. The police also helped the cause. People from different professions like doctor (New Age, 2020), engineer (Daily Observer, 2020), police , general people etc. were acting as rumormongers. There was also a political dimension to this. While people from opposition parties like Jubo Dal (student wing of an opposition political party) tried to gain by spreading rumor (New Age, 2020), the followers and leaders of the party in-power didn't lay behind . The responses to these rumors were also different. Some rumors were successful by making people fall for them (as the case study 3 shows), some were met with harsh outcomes as the rumormongers met public rage . Some of these rumors even obstructed health service delivery in hospitals .
The fear about covid-19 was also used by different groups to gain their selfish goals. While the panic-buy by people pushed the prices up (Daily Observer, 2020), the dishonest businessmen used the panic to hike prices of different commodities. The government imposed strict measures on them as many were fined for this (Daily Star, 2020). Miscreants used this opportunity for gaining their goals of theft, rape (Daily Observer, 2020), murder etc. The covid-19 lockdown situation turned out to be a strong factor influencing a sudden rise in violence against women. The violence against women rose significantly (Daily Star, 2020). While a man was arrested with 'virus shut out' products (Daily Observer, 2020), storing and selling corona test kits illegally also happened (Prothom . While trying to control rumors regarding covid-19, serious attacks on freedom of expression happened. While teachers on two occasions were suspended for their comments (Dhaka Tribune, 2020), journalists were also sued for specific news (New Age, 2020). These actions met criticisms and resulted into a lot of protests and demonstrations.

COVID-Triggered Protest and Demonstration
There were serious irregularities in relief distribution in Bangladesh (Financial Express, 2020). One of the main reasons for either protest of demonstration by people was either demand for relief or irregularities in relief distribution. From March 10, 2020 to May 6, 2020, total 149 incidents took place in 43 districts where people protested for relief. Besides, people from 41 districts either protested or demonstrated against relief distribution procedures or, requested for relief 57 times. In all the 64 districts of Bangladesh, incidents like protest for relief, protest against improper relief distribution, news about relief-related misconduct, request for relief distribution occurred at least once. Map 2 illustrates the districts with highest frequency of protests held by relief-wanting people in Bangladesh. Surprisingly, Jashore (12) tops the lists followed by the capital, Dhaka (11) and Chattogram (9). Another divisional center, Rangpur (8)  Bogura, Natore, Jaipurhat, Chapai Nawabganj, Naogaon, Meherpur, Narail, Magura, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, Bhola, and Pirojpur districts. In one of these protests, even the UP members protested against the UP chairman . About irregularities in relief distribution, a protestor quoted: "The relief has been distributed thrice in our area. But it was not us, the poor and needy, who got the relief." (Jugantor, 2020)

Case Study 4: Fake demonstration arranged to cover relief theft!
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case of relief theft against a UP Chairman in Narail. To tackle this, the UP Chairman arranged a demonstration in his area using his own resources and power. People were made to attend the demonstration while not maintaining the regulations regarding social distancing. The Chairman was found guilty of seizure of relief materials, VGD (Vulnerable Group Development) goods to be exact. He seized 40,800 kilograms of relief materials for 16 consecutive months. Many people criticized the demonstration as it had broken social distancing rules. Locals said that the chairman was highly corrupted and so desperate that he could attend the demonstration. Some expressed that they were forced to join as they feared the chairman. The people of the Union were happy that the chairman was found guilty by the Anti-Corruption Commission; but none dared to say anything. Locals claimed that the chairman who was involved in drug trade as well as the killing of a number of people had a group of followers. Some also accused the chairman of being a gambler and drug addict. The administration was said to be inquiring the situation.
In some cases, the accused also went for demonstrations to back his activities (see case study 4). A UP Chairman in Narail, using his influence, staged a demonstration that shows the public support in his favor when he had been apprehended by the Anti-Corruption Commission -Bangladesh (an independent corruption detective as well as preventive institution of the state). It was not only the poor who protested or demonstrated for relief; rather people from different professions arranged movement's demanding relief. Hotel workers staged protest for relief . CNG Taxi drivers protested for relief in Dhaka

CONCLUSION:
The aim of the study has been to unpack the incidence and nature of the resistance issues, unrests, protests and demonstrations, in Bangladesh sparked off by covid-19. People showed significant resistance to the new rules like lockdown measures and social distancing rules. In some cases, the motives (want of food and work, job safety etc.) behind resistance was reasonable whereas grounds like apathy to follow safety measures, getting away when sick, marriage etc. deserved strict measures to be applied. The government tried to deal with the resistance issues, but most of the attempts was untimely, unsuccessful, and often, backfired. Individual and collective measures to make people follow those rules were present; but they also turned violent. Rumors appeared to be the best way to gain selfish goals and they were used abundantly by the people, regardless of their occupation, age and/or political identity. Unrests like violence against women, theft, fraudulence, etc. also rose not-ably. People often came out to join protests and demonstrations wanting relief, proper relief distribution, action against corruption, payment, remuneration, safety facilities, etc. The fear of covid-19 intensified in Bangladesh because the government as well as the citizens had to combat issues not only health-related risks but also problems provoked by the pandemic that had economic, social, and political dimensions. The incidence of the problems was bountiful while the nature appeared to be diverse. The response, to fight the plentiful and diverse issues, appeared to be unsuccessful; but proper policymaking and implementation can help the nation combat the problems and cope with the 'new normal' in the post-Covid era.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
I highly acknowledge and thank Md. Inzamul Haque (Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science and Geography, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh) for his assistance in preparing the maps used in the paper. I would like to thank the undergraduate students of 1 st Batch of Department of Development Studies, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh for their kind support in content searching that assisted in data collection for this research.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:
The author whose name is listed immediately below certify that he has no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers' bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.