Bangladeshi riot police fired live ammunition at protesters in Dhaka on Saturday, July 20, and the army was widely deployed in cities across the country after another day of deadly clashes. Faced with the chaotic situation, the prime minister canceled her trip abroad.
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Faced with the intensification of violence in the protest movement in BangladeshPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years, to cancel her trips abroad. Sheikh Hasina was due to leave the country on Sunday for a diplomatic tour, but she backed out after a week of escalating violence. She has cancelled her visits to Spain and Brazil due to the current situation ” said Nayeemul Islam Khan on Saturday.
The movement was launched by student protests and has left at least 115 dead this week, according to an AFP tally of police and hospital sources. But with the police’s toughening response, which fired live ammunition on Saturday in the capital Dhaka, tens of thousands of young Bangladeshis are now demanding an end to Ms Hasina’s mandate.
” Down with the dictator “We are here to stay,” protesters chanted this week at several marches in Dhaka, a sprawling megacity of 20 million people where angry mobs set fire to several government buildings on Thursday. At least one person was injured among the thousands of demonstrators who gathered in the Rampura district on Saturday to protest the curfew imposed the day before. The curfew went into effect at midnight on Friday night and will remain in place until at least 10 a.m. (4 a.m. UTC) on Sunday, the privately owned Channel 24 reported.
The prime minister’s office has asked the military to deploy troops after police again failed to control the unrest. The army has been deployed across the country to control public disorder ” said armed forces spokesman Shahdat Hossain.
” Hundreds of thousands of people ” clashed with police in the capital Dhaka on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain said. At least 150 police officers were admitted to hospital. Another 150 received first aid. “, he said, adding that two officers had been beaten to death. According to the same source, “ Protesters set fire to many police booths ” And “ Many government offices were burned and vandalized “.
Police gunfire caused more than half of the deaths, according to descriptions provided to AFP by hospital staff.
A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests, said two of its leaders had been arrested since Friday. A senior official from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), main opposition partywas also arrested in the early hours of Saturday, according to party spokesman Sairul Islam Khan.
Read alsoBangladesh: Hundreds dead in protests, curfew and army deployed
A chaotic situation
Thousands of people besieged a police base in Rangpur on Friday night and three protesters were killed. Hospitals and police reported 10 more deaths on Saturday following the previous day’s clashes, and 105 more deaths had been reported since Tuesday.
Police shootings have been the cause of more than half of the deaths reported since the start of the week, according to descriptions provided to AFP by hospital staff. The increase in the number of deaths is shocking evidence of the Bangladeshi authorities’ absolute intolerance towards protests and dissent. ” said Babu Ram Pant of Amnesty International in a statement.
Authorities imposed a nationwide internet shutdown on Thursday that remains in effect, severely hampering communications inside and outside Bangladesh. Government websites remain inaccessible and major newspapers, including the Dhaka Tribune and the Daily Starhave been unable to update their social media accounts since Thursday. Bangladesh Television, the state broadcaster, also remains offline after its headquarters in Dhaka was set on fire by protesters the same day.
Protesters want Sheikh Hasina to resign
Since the beginning of July, the demonstrations have been almost daily. They are seeking an end to civil service hiring quotas. These quotas reserve more than half of the positions for specific groups, including children of veterans of the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. Many say the program benefits children from pro-government groups supporting Sheikh Hasina. At 76, Hasina has ruled the country since 2009 and won his fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without any real opposition.
His government is accused by human rights groups of abusing state institutions to entrench its grip on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Since the first deaths on Tuesday, protesters have begun demanding that Sheikh Hasina step down. Frustration is growing in Bangladesh because the country has not had a truly competitive national election in more than 15 years », observes Pierre Prakash, of the International Crisis Group. “ With no real alternative at the ballot box, disgruntled Bangladeshis have few options other than street protests to make their voices heard. “, he added.