Renewed anti-government protests in Bangladesh: almost 100 people died, hundreds were injured
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Nearly 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured on Sunday as anti-government protests that swept across Bangladesh resumed. Demonstrators called on the Prime Minister to resign, and the Prime Minister accused them of “sabotage” and shutting down mobile Internet in a bid to quell the unrest.
Prothom Alo, the country's leading Bengali-language daily, reported that at least 95 people, including at least 14 policemen, were killed in the violence. Channel 24 news agency reported at least 85 dead.
The military announced a new curfew in effect Sunday night for an indefinite period, including in the capital Dhaka and other divisional and district headquarters. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in Dhaka and other places.
Demonstrators have been demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following protests last month that began with students calling for the government's quota system to be scrapped. These demonstrations turned violent, killing more than 200 people.
As fresh violence raged, Hasina said the protesters involved in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and she said people should fight them with an iron fist.
The ruling Awami League party said the demand for Hasina's resignation showed that the protests had come under the control of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Also on Sunday, the government announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile internet was down and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were unavailable.
Junior Information and Broadcasting Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat said services were suspended to prevent violence.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest also led to the closure of schools and universities across the country, and authorities once imposed a curfew.
Protesters called for “non-cooperation”, urging people not to pay taxes and utility bills and not to report to work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced problems getting to their jobs.
Demonstrators attacked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka's Shahbag district, setting fire to several vehicles.
Video footage showed protesters vandalizing a prison van at the main metropolitan magistrate's court in Dhaka. Other videos showed police opening fire on the crowd with bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas. Protesters set cars and offices of the ruling party on fire. According to television footage, some were carrying sharp weapons and sticks.
In Dhaka's Uttara district, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who had blocked a main highway. Protesters attacked houses and vandalized a community welfare office in the area, where hundreds of ruling party activists took up positions. According to eyewitnesses, several crude bombs exploded and gunshots were heard. In the east, 20 people were injured by bullets.
At least 18 people were killed in the northwestern district of Sirajganj. That figure included 13 police officers who died after protesters attacked a police station, according to police headquarters in Dhaka. Another officer was killed in the eastern district of Kumila, police said.
Five people were killed in the Feni district of southeastern Bangladesh in clashes between Hasina's supporters and protesters.
Asif Iqbal, a medical officer at the government hospital in Feni, told reporters that there were five bodies in the hospital, all of them with bullet wounds. It is not yet known whether they were protesters or activists of the ruling party.
In the Munshiganj district near Dhaka, four people were pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital, a spokesman for Abu Hena Hospital said.
Jamuna news channel reported that violent clashes broke out in more than a dozen districts, including Chattagram, Bogura, Magura, Rangpura, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj, where protesters backed by the main opposition party clashed with police and activists of the ruling Awami League party and its affiliates. with her organs.
The protests began last month when students demanded an end to the quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh's 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
As the violence escalated, the nation's Supreme Court ordered that the veterans quota be cut to 5 percent and 93 percent of jobs must be distributed on the basis of merit. The remaining 2 percent will be allocated to representatives of national minorities and transgender people and people with disabilities. The government accepted the decision, but protesters continue to demand accountability for the violence, which they blame on the government's use of force.
The system also allocates jobs to members of ethnic minorities and to disabled and transgender people, whose quotas were cut from a total of 26 percent to 2 percent in the ruling.
Hasina's administration has accused opposition parties and their student wings of inciting the violence, which has also seen several government institutions torched or vandalized.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the general secretary of the main opposition party, repeated the call for the government to resign to end the chaos.
Hasina offered to speak to the student leaders on Saturday, but the coordinator refused and announced an unequivocal demand for her resignation.
Hasina repeated her promises to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down if the protesters wanted to.
The protests have become a serious challenge for Hasina, who has ruled the country for more than 15 years. She returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by her main opponents.
