Original subtitles

Hello and welcome to Global Eye.

Each week, we come to you from a different part of the world

to showcase the very best of BBC World Service journalism.

I am Sammy Awami, a reporter for BBC Africa.

For the past two weeks,

I've been on assignment here in Madagascar,

which has been gripped by political unrest

fuelled by Gen-Z anger and frustrations.

I'll be your guide to what's been happening here and why it matters.

And this isn't the only place that's been gripped by protests.

Across the world, young people have been demanding

a better deal from their governments.

GUNFIRE

Many regimes have responded with brutal force.

We'll bring you a BBC Eye investigation

into one of the worst incidences of police killing

in Bangladesh's history,

amidst demonstrations that led to the fall of the government.

And we'll take you to Indonesia,

where locals are fighting back as entire villages are sinking.

Madagascar is the world's fourth-largest island

and home to almost 32 million people.

It's celebrated for its biodiversity and untouched beauty,

but beneath the rich landscapes, this country is facing a crisis

that threatens its fragile stability.

It's the world's largest producer of vanilla,

but also one of the world's poorest nations.

More than a quarter of its population

are living below the poverty line,

and only a quarter of people here have access to electricity.

That's according to the International Monetary Fund.

It's also one of the youngest nations in the world.

It gained independence from France just 65 years ago,

and more than half the population is under the age of 25.

Since independence,

Madagascar has been caught in a cycle of coups,

contested elections and economic setbacks.

The recent protests were sparked by widespread power cuts

and water shortages,

but quickly developed into wider discontent

with the country's leadership

over unemployment and the management of the economy.

Around 29th September, the protest turned violent

when security officers opened fire on demonstrators.

GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING

At least 14 people were killed and dozens injured.

The government claimed the crackdown was necessary

to prevent foreign sabotage,

but human rights groups have condemned the response

as excessive and unlawful.

HE SPEAKS MALAGASY

The country's president and former DJ Andry Rajoelina

has been ousted and impeached,

and the High Constitutional Court has named a colonel

from an elite military unit, Capsat, as the country's new leader.

On a pris le pouvoir.

Ca, c'est le palais presidentiel.

I spoke to Colonel Randrianirina

as events were still very much in flux.

Since I sat down with him,

Colonel Randrianirina has been sworn in as president

of the new military government.

He has committed to fresh elections within two years.

It's the second time in just over a month

that youth-led protests have brought down a government,

marking a wave of Gen-Z unrest across the globe.

In Nepal, anti-corruption protests led to the storming of parliament

and the prime minister's resignation.

70 people were killed.

That same spirit of defiance is gaining momentum in Madagascar,

where young people are drawing inspiration

from youth movements worldwide.

What binds these seemingly scattered uprisings,

from calls to education reform in Morocco

to demonstrations against crime in Peru,

is a digital thread of solidarity.

Technology has given rise to a shared visual language -

emojis of raised fists and flames, manga characters,

comic book heroes battling corrupt systems.

These symbols have become rallying cries,

memes of resistance that transcend borders.

One of Gen Z's revolutions took place in Bangladesh,

and its impact has been seismic.

In July 2024,

young people's anger over a controversial quota system

for public sector jobs developed into nationwide unrest.

An estimated 1,400 people were killed

and thousands injured during weeks of unrest.

But what really happened, and who was responsible?

The BBC Eye team pieced together the events of one of

critical days of the revolution

using so-called open-source techniques to analyse videos,

documents and eyewitness accounts.

Here's Riddhi Jha's report.

SHOUTING

GUNFIRE

August 5th, 2024.

Demonstrations have been taking place across

the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, for weeks.

Protesters flee a barrage of bullets.

In this neighbourhood of Jatrabari, police fire indiscriminately,

killing at least 52 people and injuring countless others.

With unseen footage, accounts from police and protesters,

we uncover what happened and who was responsible.

For 15 years, Bangladesh was ruled by Sheikh Hasina

and her Awami League party.

Bangladesh always maintained the human rights.

To me, human rights means their security,

their right to food, right to vote, right to live.

Everything, we maintain.

But in July 2024,

protests ignited across the country

after the reinstatement of Bangladesh's quota system...

..a law that limited access to government jobs.

About 30% of jobs were set aside for the families of veterans

who fought in the country's war of independence.

CHANTING

Students like Russell Mahmud coordinated the protests.

CHANTING

EXPLOSION

The protests are met with a brutal police crackdown.

The country is plunged into a communications blackout.

The government orders internet services to be shut down.

Bijoy, a young student, becomes a powerful voice

in the rising resistance.

Hasina issues an order.

Police and security forces are to use lethal force.

This leaked recording, which has been verified by BBC Eye,

shows her directing the security response.

But the crackdown only inflames the protests.

And on August 5th,

protesters begin marching into Dhaka to demand her resignation.

Among those protesting are two friends, Sawon and Miraz.

The two friends joined the march at Jatrabari,

a key junction guarded by a major police station.

What happens next leads to one of the worst

incidents of police violence in Bangladesh's history.

We've gathered and analysed hundreds of videos,

photographs and eyewitness accounts

to build a detailed picture of what happens.

At 1:55pm, police charge out of the station...

GUNSHOTS

..forcing protesters back down the highway.

PEOPLE CRY OUT

Protesters are pushed back.

The army arrives and stands guard between them and the police.

The army tells Sheikh Hasina that they can't

prevent protesters from reaching her residence.

And at 2:25pm,

she escapes by helicopter to a military airport.

Around the same time,

army vehicles start pulling out of the area,

but troops

are still stationed outside the police station.

Miraz and Sawon move towards the station.

But Miraz stays and captures

army soldiers abandoning the police station.

Seconds after, the army withdraws,

at 2:43pm,

police opened fire again.

Miraz continues filming,

his final moments captured on his own camera.

But for those still out on the streets, the horror continues.

At 3:27pm, police retreat to a temporary army barracks.

Others escape in civilian clothes.

Some officers at the police station are trapped inside

as protesters break into the building,

setting it on fire and killing at least six officers.

Videos show the army standing by as the shooting continued.

UPROAR

As chaos subsided,

one question remained - who was responsible?

The police we spoke to told us that they were following orders.

..was there when the massacre took place.

Hasan has been arrested

but we've been told he was

instructed by more senior officers throughout the protests.

One of those was...

..seen instructing police officers

in July in Jatrabari.

The head of the police force in Dhaka, Habibur Rahman,

gave orders from a central command room.

..was in charge of the police.

And at the top of this chain of command was...

Her leadership and orders

set the stage for the crackdown.

Sheikh Hasina is now in exile.

But in Bangladesh,

she's been put on trial for crimes against humanity,

charges she strenuously denies.

Her Awami League party denies she bears

responsibility for killing of protesters.

The trial continues.

CALL TO PRAYER

OVERLAPPING PRAYERS

Young people harnessing technology for mass movements is nothing new -

the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street in the 2010s

relied heavily on Twitter to share information -

but for this generation of digital natives brought up with smartphones

and pandemic lockdowns,

online platforms from Instagram to TikTok have become such

an integral part of everyday life

that they've become a fundamental human right.

And when governments around the world have sought to curtail

or control that access, the impact has been explosive.

Here's some other great journalism from the World Service

that you can catch this week.

BBC Monitoring's Russia editor Vitaly Shevchenko's online article

tells the intriguing story of the accidental discovery of the fate

of his childhood home in Ukraine.

Here's Vitaly with more.

It all started a few weeks ago

when I was sitting at work at the end of a pretty busy day,

and I was sort of feeling nostalgic

about my home village in Ukraine's eastern Zaporizhzhia region

called Verkhnya Krynytsya, which is a poetic name -

it means "Upper Well" in Ukrainian.

And I had a look at some satellite images

and what I saw was very familiar.

There was the lush greenery of Verkhnya Krynytsya

in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.

There was the Kakhovka reservoir,

the one that we called the sea cos it was so big.

All those memories from my childhood,

they started flooding back.

I remembered how I heard local women singing Ukrainian folk songs

at the Kakhovka sea, as we called it, and now it's gone

after the Kakhovka dam was destroyed during the war.

I saw the railway tracks and I remembered the trains,

they used to pass through our village.

Now they're gone, after the tracks were also destroyed during the war.

And then I saw a new road that appeared in the village,

even though it's a pretty dangerous place -

it's occupied by Russia.

And yet somebody's made a new road leading right into my house.

And looking at satellite images,

we've found something really interesting.

That dirt track got more use when the weather got colder and wetter.

So who has made that track

and who's now occupying my childhood home

in this Russian-controlled part of war-torn Ukraine?

You can find out more on the BBC News website

or by listening to Ukrainecast wherever you get your podcasts.

And now, we are taking you to Indonesia and Java's north coast,

where entire villages are quietly vanishing

as land sinks and tidal flood creeps inland.

This is a climate crisis that experts warn could engulf

the region by 2050.

Ayomi Amindoni reports on how local people are fighting back

as their livelihoods are disrupted and their homes under threat.

Along the northern coast of Java, the sea is swallowing land

village by village.

Java is Indonesia's most populous island,

home to more than half of Indonesia's 284 million population

and a hub for over 55% of the national economy.

Ningsih has lived in Eretan Wetan for her whole life.

What once was a quiet fishing village, now a ghost town

as entire neighbourhoods are disappearing beneath the tide.

The village is among many others grappling

with severe land subsidence caused

by decades of excessive groundwater extraction.

It also has been affected by rising sea levels for years.

Ningsih watched the floods destroy roads,

swallow homes, and many families left.

Hers chose to stay,

but this is what they have to face every day.

Across Java's north coast,

more than 30 million people live in areas at risk of being submerged.

Factories and industrial zones have replaced mangroves and fish ponds,

speeding up a slow disaster already worsened by climate change.

Experts warn, by 2050, much of the coast could be underwater.

The government is now building a massive defence,

a 500km sea wall and giant pumps to hold back the ocean.

But critics say it may not be enough,

especially as more coastal land is reclaimed by development.

Nearly 300km away from Ningsih's village,

in the coastal city of Kendal,

one man is fighting to keep his home from disappearing

as a result of erosion.

Mangrove roots protect coasts from erosion and storms,

while providing breeding grounds for fish and shrimp.

Factories and ports built for an industrial zone in Kendal

have long been accused of clearing coastal mangroves,

a claim officials deny.

They argue that land subsidence has been an issue

long before the factories appeared.

But with the natural barriers gone, the sea began to eat the land.

The government has rejected the claim that industrial zones

are the root of the problem.

They say the sinking of Java's coastal areas

are mostly natural process,

but Wasito saw the damage first-hand and decided to act.

Since 2006, Wasito and his neighbours have planted

thousands of mangroves,

building a living wall to hold back the sea.

The forest now stretches along the shoreline,

protecting homes and livelihoods.

But as more land is developed,

the remaining mangrove zones are disappearing fast.

As the tide keeps rising

and the effect of climate change more severe,

communities along Java's sinking shores are doing what they can do

to protect the land they call home.

Thank you for joining me in Madagascar.

We want your feedback on Global Eye.

Let us know what you think, on social media,

Next week, we'll be reporting from Peru.

Goodbye.