Bangladesh on Friday announced the imposition of a curfew and the deployment of military forces amid deadly unrest that has spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of over 100 people. Protesting students are demanding that the Sheikh Hasina-led government should scrap a controversial job quota system. Here are some of the top updates from the violence-marred country:
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cancelled plans to leave the country on Sunday for diplomatic visits to Spain and Brazil, her press secretary told AFP. “She has cancelled her Spain and Brazil tours due to the prevailing situation, Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP on Saturday.
CURFEW IMPOSED
Hasina’s press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP that the curfew would take immediate effect. Police in the capital Dhaka earlier took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day — a first since protests began — in an effort to forestall more violence. “We’ve banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today,” police chief Habibur Rahman said, adding the move was necessary to ensure “public safety”.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The ban on all rallies and public gatherings did not stop another round of confrontations between police and protesters around the sprawling megacity of 20 million people, despite an internet shutdown. Telecommunications were also disrupted and television news channels went off the air. Authorities had cut some mobile telephone services the previous day to try to quell the unrest.
JAIL STORMED
Student protesters stormed a jail in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed its inmates before setting the facility on fire, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. “I don’t know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds,” he added. At least 52 people were killed in the capital on Friday, according to a list drawn up by the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Police fire was the cause of more than half of the deaths reported so far this week, according to an agency report.