DHAKA, Bangladesh — Nearly 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured on Sunday as anti-government protests resumed. Bangladeshwith protesters calling for the Prime Minister to resign and the Prime Minister accusing them of “sabotage” and cutting off mobile internet in a bid to quell the unrest.
The country’s main Bengali-language daily, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, were killed in the violence. Channel 24 news reported at least 85 deaths.
The army announced that a new curfew was in effect for an indefinite period on Sunday afternoon, including in the capital Dhaka and other divisional and district headquarters. Earlier, the government had imposed a curfew with some exceptions in Dhaka and other places.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina following protests last month that began with students calling for an end to the quota system for government jobs. Those demonstrations It erupted into violence that left more than 200 dead..
As renewed violence raged, Hasina said protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals, and said people should treat them with iron hands.
The ruling Awami League party said the demand for Hasina’s resignation showed that the protests had been taken over by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and the now banned Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Also on Sunday, the government announced a holiday from Monday to Wednesday. The courts were to be closed indefinitely. Mobile Internet service and Facebook were cut and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, were inaccessible.
Deputy Information and Broadcasting Minister Mohammad Ali Arafat said services were cut to help prevent violence.
At least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks. The unrest has also led to the closure of schools and universities across the country, and at one point authorities imposed a curfew to shoot on sight.
The protesters called for a “non-cooperation” effort, 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 faced difficulties reaching their jobs.
Protesters attacked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area, and set several vehicles on fire.
Video footage showed protesters vandalizing a prison van at the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court. Other videos showed police opening fire on the crowd with bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas. Protesters set fire to vehicles and offices of the ruling party. Some carried sharp weapons and sticks, according to television images.
In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people blocking a major highway. Protesters attacked homes and vandalized a community welfare office in the area, where hundreds of ruling party activists took up positions. Some crude bombs were detonated and gunshots were heard, witnesses said. To the east, 20 people were hit by bullets in the area.
At least 18 people were killed in the northwestern district of Sirajganj. That figure includes 13 police officers who died after protesters attacked a police station, according to the Dhaka police headquarters. Another officer died 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 resident doctor at a state hospital in Feni, told reporters that they had five bodies in the hospital, all of them hit by bullets. It was unclear whether they were protesters or ruling party activists.
In Munshiganj district near Dhaka, four people were declared dead after being rushed to a hospital, according to hospital official Abu Hena.
Jamuna TV news channel reported that violent clashes broke out in more than a dozen districts, including Chattogram, Bogura, Magura, Rangpur, Kishoreganj and Sirajganj, where protesters backed by the main opposition party clashed with police and activists of the ruling Awami League. party and its associated bodies.
The protests It began last month when students demanded an end to a quota system that reserved 30% of government jobs for the families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence against Pakistan in 1971.
As the violence reached its peak, The country’s Supreme Court ruled that the veteran quota should be reduced to 5% and that 93% of jobs should be assigned based on merit. The remaining 2% will be reserved for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The government accepted the decision, but protesters have continued to demand accountability for violence they attribute to the government’s use of force.
The system also reserves jobs for members of ethnic minorities and for disabled and transgender people, whose quotas were reduced from a collective 26% to 2% in the ruling.
Hasina’s administration has blamed opposition parties and their student wings for instigating the violence in which several state establishments were also set on fire or vandalized.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, general secretary of the main opposition party, reiterated a call for the government to resign to stop the chaos.
Hasina offered to speak to student leaders on Saturday, but a coordinator refused and asked her to resign on a single point.
Hasina reiterated her promises to investigate the deaths and punish those responsible for the violence. She said she was ready to sit down whenever the protesters wanted.
The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who has ruled the country for more than 15 years. He returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January an election that was boycotted by his main opponents.
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