More Than 100 Dead, Curfew and Order To Shoot After Student Protests in Bnagladesh
Angry protesters set Mirpur police box on fire as demonstrators clash with police, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Jubo League members, during ongoing quota students protests under the slogan ‘Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’. Photo: EFE
July 20, 2024 Hour: 3:29 pm
More than 100 people have been killed in student protests in Bangladesh since the violence broke out last Monday, sources from several hospitals in the country reported Saturday, while a strong security deployment is in place under the government curfew.
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Reuters news agency says that thousand believe are injured after the riots, citing data from hospitals across the country while Dhaka Medical College Hospital received 27 bodies on Friday, as the death toll climbed to 114 people.
An officer in charge of the police office of the University Hospital in Dhaka told to another foreign press agency that in addition to the dead was a photographer of a local newspaper, which would make this the second journalist killed in the coverage of the demonstrations.
The demonstrations, called mainly by student groups, demand the reform or elimination of a quota system that reserves nearly a third of government good payed jobs for family members of 1971 war veterans, a group seen as sympathizing with the Bangladeshi government.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a court reinstated it last month. The Supreme Court suspended the decision after a government appeal and will hear the case on Sunday after agreeing to bring forward a hearing scheduled for Aug. 7.
From the South Asian country videos show the police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and hurled sound grenades to scatter protesters throwing bricks and setting fire to vehicles.
Because of the violent anti-quota protests a strict curfew with firing orders and a general blackout of communications and media have been imposed throughout Bangladesh.
The authorities have also closed universities, schools and banned public gatherings, while not offering a toll of victims.
The cutting of the internet throughout the country has prevented not only access to the internet, but also telephone calls and text messages, especially from abroad. The digital media has been out of service for days and only the TV channels linked to the Hasina government remain operational.
On the other hand Hasina’s government cancelled the official trips of the prime minister to Spain and Brazil, which was to begin tomorrow, due to what is the worst crisis facing the ruler since she took office for the fourth consecutive time last January.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: Reuters // EFE // Al Jazeera
