Bangladesh imposed a curfew and deployed troops on Friday following days of bloody protests, as police struggled to contain the violence. At least 105 have died this week in clashes between student demonstrators and police, AFP tallied from hospital sources, in a major test for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year authoritarian government.
According to AFP, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan said the government would impose a curfew and call in the military to help civilian authorities. He said the curfew would take effect immediately.
The police in the capital Dhaka had taken an unprecedented measure of banning all public gatherings for the day to counter further violence, the first action of its kind since protests began.
A new wave of clashes between police and demonstrators swept the city of 20 million, however, despite the unprecedented shutdown of the internet aimed at cutting off the protest organizers from their supporters.
Sarwar Tushar, one of the protesters who joined another similar procession in the capital and got minor injuries when police violently dispersed it, said, “We will continue our protest. We demand Sheikh Hasina’s immediate resignation. The government bears the responsibility for the killing,” AFP reported.
A police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that student protesters stormed a jail in Narsingdi district, also in central Bangladesh, freed its inmates, then set the facility on fire. “I don’t know the number of inmates, but it could be in the hundreds,” he added.
According to a list from Dhaka Medical College Hospital seen by AFP, at least 52 people died in the capital on Friday. Medics at hospitals spoken to by AFP said police gunfire was responsible for more than half of the deaths this week.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, branded the attacks on student protesters as “shocking and unacceptable.” In a statement, he called for impartial, prompt, and thorough investigations to be conducted into these incidents, demanding accountability of the perpetrators.
Earlier, the capital’s police force reported that protesters had carried out “destructive activities,” including torching, vandalizing, and attacking numerous police and government offices on Thursday.
