Now Reading: At the least 43 killed as clashes rock Bangladesh, curfew imposed
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At the least 43 killed as clashes rock Bangladesh, curfew imposed
College students shout slogans throughout a protest march as they demand justice for victims arrested and killed within the latest nationwide violence over job quotas, in Dhaka on August 3, 2024.(Photograph by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Munir Uz Zaman | Afp | Getty Pictures
At the least 43 individuals have been killed and lots of injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday, as police fired tear gasoline and rubber bullets to disperse tens of 1000’s of protesters calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
The federal government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew beginning at 6 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday, the primary time it has taken such a step in the course of the present protests that started final month. It additionally introduced a three-day common vacation ranging from Monday.
The unrest, which has prompted the federal government to close down web companies, is Hasina’s greatest take a look at since January when lethal protests erupted after she gained a fourth straight time period in elections that have been boycotted by the primary opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Get together.
Critics of Hasina, together with human rights teams, have accused her authorities of utilizing extreme drive to stamp out the motion, a cost she and her ministers deny.
Demonstrators blocked main highways on Sunday as scholar protesters launched a non-cooperation program to press for the federal government’s resignation, and violence unfold nationwide.
“Those that are protesting on the streets proper now are usually not college students, however terrorists who’re out to destabilise the nation,” Hasina mentioned after a nationwide safety panel assembly, attended by the chiefs of the military, navy, air drive, police and different businesses.
“I enchantment to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a robust hand.”
Police stations and ruling occasion workplaces have been focused as violence rocked the nation of 170 million individuals.
At the least 5 individuals have been killed and dozens injured amid fierce clashes in a number of locations within the capital, Dhaka, police and witnesses mentioned.
Two building staff have been killed on their method to work and 30 injured within the central district of Munsiganj, throughout a three-way conflict of protesters, police and ruling occasion activists, witnesses mentioned.
“They have been introduced useless to the hospital with bullet wounds,” mentioned Abu Hena Mohammad Jamal, the superintendent of the district hospital.
Clashes
Police mentioned that they had not fired any bullets and mentioned accidents have been brought on by improvised explosives that have been detonated as the realm was a battleground.
Within the northeastern district of Pabna, at the least three individuals have been killed and 50 injured throughout a conflict between protesters and activists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League, witnesses mentioned.
Three individuals have been killed in violence within the northern district of Bogura, and 30 have been killed in 12 different districts, hospital officers mentioned.
“An assault on a hospital is unacceptable,” mentioned Well being Minister Samanta Lal Sen after a gaggle vandalised a medical faculty hospital and set hearth to autos, together with an ambulance, in Dhaka.
For the second time in the course of the latest protests, the federal government shut down high-speed web companies, cell operators mentioned. Social media platforms Fb and WhatsApp weren’t accessible, even by way of broadband connections.
Bangladesh authorities instructed the nation’s telecoms on Sunday to close down 4G, successfully disabling web companies, in keeping with a confidential authorities memo seen by Reuters.
“You’re requested to close down all of your 4G companies till additional discover, solely 2G can be efficient,” mentioned the doc issued by the Nationwide Telecommunication Monitoring Heart, a authorities intelligence company.
Telecoms corporations have been beforehand advised their licenses could be cancelled if they didn’t adjust to authorities orders, an individual with direct data advised Reuters.
The telecom regulatory physique didn’t reply to Reuters’ calls.
Final month, at the least 150 individuals have been killed and 1000’s injured in violence touched off by scholar teams protesting towards quotas for presidency jobs.
The protests paused after the Supreme Courtroom scrapped most quotas, however college students returned to the streets in sporadic protests final week, demanding justice for the households of these killed.
“I believe the genie is out of the bottle and Hasina might not put it again within the bottle once more,” mentioned Shakil Ahmed, affiliate professor for presidency and politics at Jahangirnagar College.
“The prime minister ought to instantly kind a nationwide authorities to facilitate better unity.”
