A Democracy is Shaken

Sitting inside his sports-goods store on Dhaka's centrally located Bangabandhu Avenue, Rahim Ali could clearly hear the voice of Sheikh Hasina, the leader of his country's opposition, as she addressed a mammoth rally just outside his shop. Soon after Hasina's speech ended, Ali's windowpanes started shaking and cracking. Outside on the avenue, Delwar Hossain, a 26-year-old seller of peanuts, heard a loud noise and thought at first that the tire of a truck must have burst. A moment later, Quddus Miah, a street-side garment vendor, saw thousands of people, many wounded and bleeding, stampeding down the road; his first instinct was...