On Friday, a nationwide curfew was imposed in Bangladesh, where at least 105 people have been killed and thousands injured, according to hospital sources, in clashes between protesters and security forces in recent days.
Several thousand protesters defied the curfew on Saturday and demonstrated in the Dhaka district of Ramphura, and at least one person was injured when police opened fire with live ammunition, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.
The country’s army has also been deployed to stop the protests, which have now spread to almost half of the country’s districts.
Stormy prison
On Saturday, soldiers patrolled the streets of Dhaka, but this did not prevent new demonstrations.
Earlier this week, protesters set fire to several public buildings in Dhaka, including the headquarters of the country’s broadcaster.
On Friday, students stormed a prison and freed the inmates before setting fire to the facility.
Closed internet
The authorities have closed the internet and parts of the telephone network in an attempt to prevent the students from mobilizing, and a ban has been introduced on all public gatherings.
The telephone connection abroad is also down, and the websites of the media in the country are not updated.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was recently re-elected and is the world’s longest-serving female head of state, has canceled a planned trip to Spain and Brazil as a result of the unrest, a spokesperson said.
Shocking
Hasina’s government is accused by human rights groups of cracking down on critical voices and of being behind extrajudicial executions of opposition figures.
According to hospital sources, at least half of all those killed in the last week were shot by the police.
– The ever-increasing number of dead is a shocking sign of the absolute intolerance the authorities in Bangladesh show towards those who protest, says Babu Ram Pant of Amnesty International.
High vacancy rate
The students in Bangladesh have long protested that 30 percent of all public positions in the country are reserved for family members of those who fought in the independence war once morest Pakistan in 1971.
Critics argue that this primarily serves groups that support Hasina.
Close to 20 percent of the 170 million inhabitants of Bangladesh are without a job, and among young people under the age of 24, unemployment is over 40 percent.
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2024-07-20 23:46:53
