Renewed protests in Bangladesh leave nearly 100 dead, military announces new curfew

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Nearly 100 people were killed and hundreds injured Sunday as new anti-government protests erupted in Bangladesh. Protesters demanded the prime minister’s resignation and the prime minister accused them of “sabotage” and cutting off mobile internet to quell the unrest.

The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, reported that at least 95 people, including at least 14 policemen, had died in the violence. Channel 24 reported at least 85 deaths.

The military announced that a new curfew, including in the capital, Dhaka, and other divisional and district headquarters, would be in effect Sunday evening for an indefinite period. The government had earlier imposed a curfew with some exceptions in Dhaka and elsewhere.

The demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after protests last month that began with students demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs turned violent, leaving more than 200 people dead.

READ MORE: Bangladesh’s top court slashes government job quota in response to deadly riots

As violence erupted again, Hasina said protesters who committed “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals and that people should deal with them with an iron fist.

The ruling Awami League party said the demand for Hasina’s resignation showed the protests had been hijacked by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the now-banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.

Also on Sunday, the government declared a day off from Monday to Wednesday. Courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile internet access was cut off, and Facebook and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were unavailable.

Deputy Information and Broadcasting Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat said on Sunday that the calls had been cut 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 at one point imposed a shooting-in-place curfew.

Protesters called for “non-cooperation,” urging people not to pay taxes or utility bills and not to show up for work on Sunday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities had trouble getting to work.

Protesters attacked the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka’s Shahbagh district, setting several vehicles on fire.

Video footage shows protesters vandalizing a prison van at a district court in Dhaka. Other footage shows police firing bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowd. Protesters set vehicles and ruling party offices on fire. Some carried sharp weapons and sticks, according to television footage.

In Dhaka’s Uttara district, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people blocking a major highway. Protesters attacked homes and vandalized a social welfare office in the area, where hundreds of ruling party activists had taken up positions. Several crude bombs were detonated and gunfire was heard, witnesses said. At least 20 people were shot in the area.

At least 18 people were killed in the northwestern district of Sirajganj. The toll included 13 policemen who died after protesters attacked a police station, according to the Dhaka police headquarters. Another policeman was killed in the eastern district of Cumilla, police said.

Five people were killed in the Feni district of southeastern Bangladesh when Hasina’s supporters clashed with protesters.

Asif Iqbal, a medical resident at a government hospital in Feni, told reporters there were five bodies in the hospital, all shot. It was not clear whether they were protesters or ruling party activists.

In Munshiganj district near Dhaka, Abu Hena Hospital director said four people were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.

Jamuna TV reported that violent clashes occurred in more than a dozen districts, including Chattogram, Bogura, Magura, Rangpur, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj, where protesters backed by the country’s main opposition party clashed with police and activists of the ruling Awami League party and its affiliates.

The protests began last month when students demanded the end of a quota system that reserved 30 percent of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

As violence peaked, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veterans’ quota must be reduced to 5 percent, and 93 percent of jobs must be awarded based on merit. The remaining 2 percent will be reserved for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government has 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 provides jobs for people from ethnic minorities and disabled and transgender people, whose quotas were reduced from a combined 26 per cent to 2 per cent under the ruling.

Hasina’s administration has blamed opposition parties and their student wings for inciting the violence, which also saw several government facilities torched or vandalised.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the main opposition party, renewed his call for the government to step down to end the chaos.

Hasina had offered to talk to the student leaders on Saturday, but the coordinator refused and put forward a one-point demand for her resignation.

Hasina reiterated her promises to thoroughly investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever protesters wanted.

The protests have posed a major challenge to Hasina, who has ruled the country for more than 15 years. She returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in elections that were boycotted by her main opponents.