Police imposed a strict curfew with a “shoot-on-sight” order across Bangladesh as military forces patrolled parts of the capital Saturday after scores were killed and hundreds injured in clashes over the allocation of civil service jobs.
The curfew began at midnight and was relaxed from noon to 2 p.m. for people to run essential errands, and is expected to last until 10 a.m. Sunday, allowing officers to fire on mobs in extreme cases, said lawmaker Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party.
Local media also reported that some 800 inmates fled from a prison in Narsingdi, a district north of the capital, after protesters stormed the facility and set it on fire Friday.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has backed the protests, vowing Friday to organize its own demonstrations as many of its supporters joined the students’ protests. However, BNP said in a statement its followers were not responsible for the violence and denied the ruling party’s accusations of using the protests for political gains.
The demonstrations - the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected for a fourth successive term this year - have also been fuelled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of the population.
With the death toll climbing and police and other security forces unable to contain the protests, Hasina's government imposed a national curfew and deployed the military, who were given orders to shoot on sight if needed.
In the central Bangladesh district of Narsingdi, protesters stormed a jail on Friday, freeing over 850 inmates and setting fire to the facility, TV channels reported, citing police. Scattered incidents of arson were also reported on Saturday in some parts of the country.
Hasina dropped plans to leave on Sunday for diplomatic visits to Spain and Brazil due to the protests, the office of Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said.
Many opposition party leaders, activists and student protesters had been arrested, said Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Police arrested Nahid Islam, a leading student coordinator, at 2 a.m. on Saturday, the protesters said in a text message.
Neighbouring India said nearly 1,000 Indian students had returned home since the violence began.
Soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday, setting up roadblocks during a curfew imposed in response to student-led protests against government job quotas that have killed at least 110 people this week.
Internet and text message services have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off as police cracked down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings.
Overseas telephone calls mostly failed to connect while websites of Bangladesh-based media organisations did not update and their social media accounts remained inactive.
"To take a country of nearly 170 million people off the Internet is a drastic step, one we haven't seen since the likes of the Egyptian revolution of 2011," said John Heidemann, chief scientist of the networking and cybersecurity division at USC Viterbi's Information Sciences Institute.
The internet shutdown meant many people could not top up their electricity meters, leaving them without power.
In addition to the deaths, the clashes have injured thousands, according to hospitals across Bangladesh. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital received 27 dead bodies between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. (1100-1200 GMT) on Friday.
For five days police have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and hurled sound grenades to scatter protesters throwing bricks and setting fire to vehicles.
Reuters and Agency reports
The curfew began at midnight and was relaxed from noon to 2 p.m. for people to run essential errands, and is expected to last until 10 a.m. Sunday, allowing officers to fire on mobs in extreme cases, said lawmaker Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party.
Local media also reported that some 800 inmates fled from a prison in Narsingdi, a district north of the capital, after protesters stormed the facility and set it on fire Friday.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has backed the protests, vowing Friday to organize its own demonstrations as many of its supporters joined the students’ protests. However, BNP said in a statement its followers were not responsible for the violence and denied the ruling party’s accusations of using the protests for political gains.
The demonstrations - the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected for a fourth successive term this year - have also been fuelled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of the population.
With the death toll climbing and police and other security forces unable to contain the protests, Hasina's government imposed a national curfew and deployed the military, who were given orders to shoot on sight if needed.
In the central Bangladesh district of Narsingdi, protesters stormed a jail on Friday, freeing over 850 inmates and setting fire to the facility, TV channels reported, citing police. Scattered incidents of arson were also reported on Saturday in some parts of the country.
Hasina dropped plans to leave on Sunday for diplomatic visits to Spain and Brazil due to the protests, the office of Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said.
Many opposition party leaders, activists and student protesters had been arrested, said Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Police arrested Nahid Islam, a leading student coordinator, at 2 a.m. on Saturday, the protesters said in a text message.
Neighbouring India said nearly 1,000 Indian students had returned home since the violence began.
Soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday, setting up roadblocks during a curfew imposed in response to student-led protests against government job quotas that have killed at least 110 people this week.
Internet and text message services have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off as police cracked down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings.
Overseas telephone calls mostly failed to connect while websites of Bangladesh-based media organisations did not update and their social media accounts remained inactive.
"To take a country of nearly 170 million people off the Internet is a drastic step, one we haven't seen since the likes of the Egyptian revolution of 2011," said John Heidemann, chief scientist of the networking and cybersecurity division at USC Viterbi's Information Sciences Institute.
The internet shutdown meant many people could not top up their electricity meters, leaving them without power.
In addition to the deaths, the clashes have injured thousands, according to hospitals across Bangladesh. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital received 27 dead bodies between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. (1100-1200 GMT) on Friday.
For five days police have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and hurled sound grenades to scatter protesters throwing bricks and setting fire to vehicles.
Reuters and Agency reports
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