Soldiers have been deployed in the streets, while gatherings have been banned and the Internet is still down. Some sources claim that at least 105 have died with 1,500 injured in clashes. A prison was attacked and set on fire with inmates allowed to escape. What started as a protest over public employment quotas has quickly morphed in an all-out battle. Hundreds of Indian students have been repatriated, while India is not taking any position over the clashes.
Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered a nationwide curfew in Bangladesh, deploying army troops to restore order following protests that have been going on for almost two weeks, with violence escalating in the past two years.
Authorities shut down the Internet and communications services. Some sources reached by AFP report that the death toll has risen to 105 with more than 1,500 injured.
Awami League Secretary General Obaidul Quader announced the curfew, saying it was needed to maintain order in what is shaping up to be the most serious crisis Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has faced coming to power.
The daughter of Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation who led the country in its war of liberation from Pakistan, she has served as prime minister uninterruptedly since 2009.
Police reportedly banned all gatherings in the capital, Dhaka, and fired tear gas and opened fire on protesters.
In addition to schools and universities, the underground train and rail connections to and from Dhaka have also been closed.
Earlier, protesters had stormed a prison in Narsingdi district, freeing the detainees before setting fire to the facility.
As AsiaNews reported, the unrest was triggered by student opposition to a quota system in public employment, which still reserves 30 per cent of jobs to the descendants of the 1971 freedom fighters, a system many deem a patronage tool in the hands of the Awami League.
Opposition by youth movements linked to the ruling party together with harsh police repression have turned this specific protest into all-out battle with the government of Sheikh Hasina, bringing together the student protest and widespread revulsion at the repression of dissent.
Before the internet was shut down, the official websites of the central bank, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the police were hacked by group calling itself THE R3SISTANC3.
“Operation HuntDown, Stop Killing Students,” read messages splashed on the sites, adding in crimson letters: “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a war now.”
Neighbouring India is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh, home to thousands of Indians.
“We see this as an internal matter of Bangladesh,” said Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at a media briefing.
In such an explosive situation, hundreds of Indian students have already crossed the border to return to their home states in north-east India.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s minorities are also frightened of possible repercussions of the ongoing violence on them.
