Residents formed resistance groups and patrolled the streets of at least two neighbourhoods in Dhaka on Wednesday night in an attempt to stall looting of shops, homes and godowns, several residents said.

An engineer who lives in a housing complex in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur told this newspaper over the phone that he spent Wednesday night with his neighbours on the road in front of the complex to stop vandals from targeting their homes.

The group patrolled the main road from 8pm on Wednesday till 8am on Thursday.

The 36-year-old, who works in a manufacturing unit of a global garments brand, said their group of around 30 men included students from Dhaka University.

He said they would do the same on Thursday night, too.

The residents carried household items such as curtain rods, kitchen knives and bamboo sticks to keep attackers at bay.

Police stations are devoid of any personnel, he said. Army patrols are also very few. Several incidents of looting and arson were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

“We had been getting news of armed robberies through social media as well as through residents’ WhatsApp groups. There were messages from residents of Naboday Housing, Mohammadia Housing, Chan Mia Housing, Chand Udyan, Dhaka Udyan and Chandrima Housing in Mohammadpur about groups of men, on motorcycles or trucks, breaking down doors of houses and looting cash and jewellery. On Tuesday, armed robbers had barged into a house in Naboday Housing,” said the engineer, who
stays in an apartment with his wife and one-year-old son.

Another Mohammadpur resident, who works as a teacher in a private school in Dhaka, said arms and ammunition had been looted from police station armouries.

Adabor police station, a stone’s throw from their locality, had been attacked by a large crowd on Monday night. The vandalism continued till early on Tuesday.

This newspaper had on Wednesday published an account of a woman, who lives close to the police station, about the attack and how residents heard gunshots and saw vehicles parked in the police station compound being set ablaze.

A businessman who stays near Shyamoli Park, around 2.5km from Mohammadpur, said they, too, had formed a resistance group and were out patrolling the streets at night.

“We have no police to turn to. We are getting news of armed robberies from several places. We cannot sit back and do nothing,” said the 47-year-old man.

The resistance groups of various localities have formed a WhatsApp group where alerts are being sent out if a group spots robbers and needs help.

Announcements are being made from the public address system of mosques asking residents to be vigilant, the businessman said.

The engineer from Mohammadpur said they are regularly getting updates about attacks through the WhatsApp group, whose members include residents of places like Dhanmondi, Adabor, Uttara, Shekertek, Mirpur, Bosila and Chattarpur.

“Students are guarding several localities. Although we stand little chance against firearms, we are all that stands between these armed trouble-makers and our families,” the engineer said.

All the residents The Telegraph spoke to on Thursday said they supported the
students’ movement against the quota system in government jobs.

“I also think that the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus will stabilise the country.... These attacks must stop or more people will die. These attacks are being carried out by our citizens and we are aghast at how things have turned out,” the businessman said.

On Wednesday, Nobel laureate Yunus appealed to the people of Bangladesh to “stay calm” and “refrain from all forms of violence”.

Yunus — founder of Grameen Bank, a micro-credit institution — was sworn in on Thursday night to head the interim government that will steer the country after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.