Bangladesh on Friday announced a curfew and the deployment of military forces as police failed to contain deadly unrest that has spread across the country for several days.
At least 105 people have been killed in clashes between student protesters and police this week, according to an AFP count of casualties reported by hospitals, posing a major challenge to the authoritarian government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years.
“The government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the army to assist civil authorities,” Hasina’s press secretary Naeemul Islam Khan told AFP.
He said the curfew would come into effect immediately.
Earlier, police in the capital Dhaka took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day – the first time such action had been taken since the protests began – in an effort to prevent further violence.
“We have banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today,” police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP. He said the move was necessary to ensure “public safety”.
However, an internet shutdown aimed at thwarting the holding of rallies did not prevent another round of clashes between police and protesters in the sprawling metropolis of 20 million.
“Our protest will continue,” Sarwar Tushar, who joined a march in the capital and was slightly injured when police violently dispersed it, told AFP.
“We want the immediate resignation of Sheikh Hasina. The government is responsible for these killings.”
Student protesters stormed a prison in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed inmates before setting the prison on fire, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He said, “I don’t know the number of prisoners, but it would be in hundreds.”
– ‘Shocking and unacceptable’ –
At least 52 people died in the capital on Friday, according to a list compiled by Dhaka Medical College Hospital and seen by AFP.
More than half of the deaths so far this week were caused by police firing, according to details given to AFP by hospital staff.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the attacks on student protesters were “shocking and unacceptable”.
“These attacks must be investigated impartially, promptly and thoroughly, and those responsible must be held accountable,” he said in a statement.
The capital’s police force earlier said protesters carried out arson, vandalism and “destructive activities” at several police and government offices on Thursday.
These included the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which has been closed since hundreds of angry students stormed the premises and set a building on fire.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP that officers have arrested Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, one of the top leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
– ‘A symbol of a rigged system’ –
The almost daily marches this month have demanded the end of the quota system, which reserves more than half of the civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans of the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
Critics say the scheme benefits the children of pro-government groups that support 76-year-old Hasina, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won a fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without any real opposition.
Human rights groups have accused Hasina’s government of abusing state institutions to consolidate its grip on power and suppress dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
His administration this week ordered the indefinite closure of schools and universities, as police stepped up efforts to bring the deteriorating law and order situation under control.
“This is an explosion of discontent that has been brewing among the youth population for years,” Ali Riaz, a politics professor at Illinois State University, told AFP.
“Job quotas have become a symbol of a system that is rigged and stacked against them by the regime.”
– ‘Nationwide’ internet shutdown –
Students say they are determined to continue the protests, despite Hasina attempting to calm the unrest by delivering a national address on the state broadcaster earlier this week.
Clashes broke out in nearly half of Bangladesh’s 64 districts on Thursday, according to broadcaster Independent Television.
London-based watchdog NetBlocks said on Friday that a “nationwide” internet shutdown remained in effect a day after it was imposed.
“Metrics show connectivity remains stagnant at 10% of normal levels, raising concerns about public safety as there is little news coming in or out of the country,” the social media platform X wrote.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
