Similar rumors erupted in Bangladesh in the summer of 2010. In that scare, it was believed that children’s heads were being used as a
foundation sacrifice for the newly built Shah Amanat Bridge over the Karnaphuli
River.
bdnews24.com [Bangladesh]
12 July 2019
Hasina orders hunt for
culprits spreading Padma Bridge ‘human head’ rumours
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered officials to
track down the people who have spread the rumour that “human heads and blood
are required” for the piling work of Padma Bridge. The perpetrators will face
exemplary punishment for trying to create panic, Road Transport and Bridges
Minister Obaidul Quader told the media at a function in Dhaka on Thursday. […] “The
opposition party is trying to mislead the people by spreading rumours, having
failed in elections and agitations. For what else should such a weird,
unbelievable idea that ‘human heads, blood will be needed to construct the
Padma Bridge’ be spread on social media?” the Awami League general secretary
asked. […]
Dhaka Tribune [Bangladesh]
12 July 2019
6 held for spreading rumour
over Padma Bridge construction
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested six people
on allegation of spreading rumour over Padma Bridge construction. […]
bdnews24.com [Bangladesh]
13 July 2019
Bangladesh arrests eight over
‘human heads, blood for Padma Bridge’ rumours
Security personnel in Bangladesh have arrested eight
people on charges of spreading rumours on Facebook that “human heads and blood
are required to build the Padma Bridge”. Besides arresting three, police in
Chandpur rescued as many others from mobs that were beating them on suspicion
that they were abductors. […] Arman [Hossain] uploaded photos of Padma Bridge,
cut-off heads and blood on Facebook from Monday. “Just received news – truth,
not rumour, Padma Bridge wants blood, over one hundred families flee homes,
Padma Bridge work is shutting down for the lack of blood, four missing –
panicked villagers flee, caught red-handed during theft,” Arman wrote in the
posts, according to the RAB official. […]
bdnews24.com [Bangladesh]
13 July 2019
RAB arrests Jamalpur man for
spreading rumours over Padma Bridge
Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, has arrested a man in
Jamalpur for allegedly circulating rumours regarding Padma Bridge on social
media. The miscreant, identified as Forkan Hossain, […] called on the roads
transport and bridges minister to sacrifice his own head for the bridge before
taking children’s heads. […]
bdnews24.com
18 July 2019
Mob lynches Netrokona man
carrying ‘severed head’ of child
A man has been beaten to death by an angry mob after
allegedly being caught with the ‘severed head’ of a child stuffed in his bag. The
lynching took place in the town’s New Town area around 1pm on Thursday, said
Netrokona Model Police OC Tajul Islam. […] OC Tajul said, “This has nothing to
do with the rumours of human heads being needed for the construction of Padma
Bridge. We have found out that the deceased youth was a drug addict. We are
trying to find out the motive behind the incident.”
https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/no-strings-attached/news/the-frenzy-angry-misguided-mob-1775341
The Daily Star [Bangladesh]
23 July 2019
The frenzy of an angry,
misguided mob
Aasha Mehreen Amin
[…] A few days ago, three different individuals
related to me the same absurd tale: a bizarre practice of human sacrifice
apparently taking place (in this day and age) near our under-construction Padma
Bridge! It sounded like something out of a ghoulish ancient legend—a mysterious
structure, in this case a bridge, requiring human blood in order to make it
sturdy. Admittedly, the three accounts were from simple folks who were prone to
believing any strange gossip they were told. My first reaction was extreme
annoyance at the preposterousness of the story. But then, strangely enough, two
more people, a cook and a homeworker, related almost identical theories. The
strange part was that one had heard this from a relative in Faridpur and
another in Kishoreganj and another in Barishal. The stories were being spread
by word of mouth but also through social media. […]
Dhaka Tribune
24 July 2019
IGP: Rumour on Padma Bridge
linked to anti-govt parties
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md Javed Patwary has
said rumours that are being spread regarding Padma Bridge are linked to
anti-government political parties. “A vested quarter is now intentionally
spreading such rumours to create an unstable situation in Bangladesh,” he said
while speaking to the media at Police Headquarters in Dhaka on Wednesday. […]
The Daily Star
26 July 2019
Rumours and mob killings:
What are the underlying causes?
Mohammad Tareq Hasan
[…] The basis of the rumour is an age-old myth
regarding human sacrifice needed for construction of sturdy structures (e.g.
bridges). Of course, the myth (or urban myth) is not unique to Bangladesh.
Similar urban myths are found in different countries of Asia, Africa, or even
Europe. Part of the myth concerns the use of human sacrifice for some desired
outcome. If we want to ask, “why has this resurfaced in Bangladesh now”,
anthropological literature may give us a head-start in that investigation. […]
Dhaka Tribune
27 July 2019
B Chy: Padma Bridge rumours
politically motivated
AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, former president and
president of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) has said there is political motive
behind the rise in crimes and social unrest regarding Padma Bridge rumour. […] “The
conspirators are spreading rumours with a political motive that human heads are
necessary for Padma Bridge’s construction,” he said. […]
[Politicians and the police are no less susceptible to
conspiracy theories than the public, and authorities may seek an organized
source of rumors where perhaps none exists.]
The New Nation
28 July 2019
Padma Bridge superstition
Chinese style was the wrong style for us
It's a sad story of a multi-billion dollar Padma
Multipurpose Bridge. Already some lives have been lost for believing in Chinese
superstition of giving animal blood for their success in finishing the project.
[…] It was a dangerous practice or superstition, whatever the term may be used,
to borrow from another country a practice which could be abused to make some
simple minded people to believe that if blood of living beings are necessary
for successful completion of a very important project like Padma Bridge
children blood might also be required by that country's superstition. […]
The Daily Star
10 March 2015
Padma Bridge
Work starts in Chinese style
The test piling of the Padma Bridge project began
yesterday with the project officials sacrificing animals as per Chinese ritual.
Officials of the China Major Bridge Engineering Company Ltd sacrificed two
black bulls, two goats and two chickens on the occasion of the test piling and
let the blood flow in the water on the Mawa side of the project in Munshiganj.
[…] “They [the Chinese builders] were repeatedly requesting us to start the
test piling this way [through sacrificing animals]. We told them not to do so.
But they did not listen to us,” said a senior official, preferring anonymity. “Finally,
we had to allow them, but we also ensured that the animals were slaughtered
according to Islamic laws,” he said, adding that no Bangladeshi senior
officials of the project joined the programme on “religious” ground. […]
Dhaka Tribune
1 August 2019
Man held for spreading rumour
in Ctg
Police in Chittagong detained a man, identified as Md
Alamgir, on charges of spreading a rumour of child abduction. […] Alamgir was
detained on Wednesday from a house in the Nazirhat neighbourhood of the
Fatikchhari upazilla in Chittagong. The man in custody reportedly made a video
which shows children were being abducted and sacrificed in order to build the
Padma Bridge, one of Bangladesh's biggest infrastructure projects. Later, he
circulated the video on Facebook urging the parents and guardians not to send
their children to school. […]
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