Violent clashes in Bangladesh | Police fire live ammunition, army deployed

(Dhaka) Bangladeshi riot police fired live ammunition at protesters in Dhaka on Saturday, an AFP journalist said, and the army was widely deployed in cities across the country after another day of deadly clashes.

The growth of the movement, which began with student protests and has left at least 115 dead this week, according to an AFP tally of police and hospital sources, has prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years, to cancel her trips abroad.

At least one person was injured among the thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday in the Rampura district to protest against the curfew imposed the day before, AFP noted.

A government curfew came into effect at midnight on Friday night and the prime minister’s office 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,” armed forces spokesman Shahdat Hossain told AFP.

The curfew will remain in effect until at least 10 a.m. (midnight Eastern Time) on Sunday, private broadcaster Channel 24 reported.

“Hundreds of thousands of people” clashed with police in the capital Dhaka on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP.

“At least 150 police officers have been admitted to hospital. Another 150 have received first aid,” he said, adding that two officers had been beaten to death.

According to the same source, “the demonstrators set fire to many police huts” and “many government offices were set on fire and vandalized.”

A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests, told AFP that two of its leaders had been arrested since Friday.

A senior official of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was arrested in the early hours of Saturday, according to party spokesman Sairul Islam Khan.

Thousands of people besieged a police base in Rangpur overnight Friday to Saturday, a senior police official in the northern city told AFP, and three protesters were killed.

M^me 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,” Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP on Saturday.

“Frustration is rising”

Demonstrations have been almost daily since the beginning of July.

They aim to end public sector hiring quotas that reserve more than half of posts for specific groups, including children of veterans of the country’s liberation war against Pakistan in 1971, and favor those close to power.

Many voices claim that the program benefits children from pro-government groups supporting M^me Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without any real opposition.

The government of M^me Hasina is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench her grip on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.

Since the first deaths on Tuesday, protesters have begun demanding that Mr.^me Hasina leaves office.

“Frustration is growing in Bangladesh because the country has not had a truly competitive national election in more than 15 years,” Pierre Prakash of the International Crisis Group told AFP.

“Without a real alternative at the ballot box, disgruntled Bangladeshis have few options other than street protests to make their voices heard,” he added.

“Absolute intolerance”

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 caused more than half of the deaths reported so far this week, according to descriptions provided to AFP by hospital staff.

“The rising death toll is shocking evidence of the Bangladeshi authorities’ utter intolerance of protest and dissent,” Babu Ram Pant of Amnesty International said in a statement.

Authorities imposed a nationwide internet shutdown on Thursday that remains in effect, severely hampering communications within and outside Bangladesh.

Government websites remain inaccessible and major newspapers, including the Dhaka Tribune and the Daily Starhave not been able 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.