Defiant Bangladesh protesters call for march to capital
Ruma Paul |
Protesting students in Bangladesh have called for a march to the capital Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew to press Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes in the South Asian country killed nearly 100 people.
Armoured personnel carriers and troops patrolled the streets of the capital on Monday, Reuters TV showed.
There was little civilian traffic, barring a few motorcycles and three-wheel taxis.
At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in a wave of violence across the country of 170 million people as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters.
Starting on Sunday evening, a nationwide curfew has been imposed, the railways have suspended services and the country’s huge garments industry has closed.
Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that began in July after student groups demanded scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs.
That escalated into a campaign to seek the ouster of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.
Sunday’s death toll, which included at least 13 policemen, was the highest for a single day from any protests in Bangladesh’s recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets against the quotas.
In July, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence touched off by student groups protesting against quotas for government jobs.
At least 300 people had died since the violence began in July, French news agency AFP reported on Monday.
The government declared the indefinite nationwide curfew starting on Sunday night and also announced a three-day general holiday starting from Monday.
“The government has killed many students. The time has come for the final answer,” protest co-ordinator Asif Mahmud said on Facebook about Monday’s planned march.
“Everyone will come to Dhaka especially from the surrounding districts. Come to Dhaka and take a position on the streets.”
The Bangladesh army urged everyone to obey the curfew rules.
There were attacks, vandalism and arson targeting government buildings, offices of the ruling Awami League party, police stations and houses of public representatives, local media reported.
Bangladesh Railway said it had suspended all services indefinitely, and garment factories, which supply apparel to some of the top brands in the world, have also been closed.
Critics of Hasina, along with human rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, a charge she and her ministers deny.
For the second time during the recent protests, the government has shut down high-speed internet services, mobile operators said.
Social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp were not available.
Websites of major Bangladeshi newspapers and their social media handles stopped updating and the YouTube feed of news channels stopped transmitting mid-morning on Monday.
Reasons for their disruption were not immediately known.
The protests paused after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas, but students returned to the streets in sporadic protests last week, demanding justice for the families of those killed and Hasina’s resignation.
Hasina has said “those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.
with AP
Reuters
