43 killed & hundreds injured in Bangladesh as PM Sheikh Hasina rejects calls for resignation

DHAKA: At least 43 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday, as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

In response, the government announced an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6pm on Sunday, the first such action during the ongoing protests that began last month. Additionally, a three-day public holiday was announced from Monday.

The unrest, which shut down internet services, is Hasina’s biggest challenge since deadly protests erupted after her fourth straight election victory in January, which was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Critics, along with human rights groups, accuse Hasina’s government of using excessive force to suppress the movement, a charge the government denies.

On Sunday, protesters blocked major highways, with student protesters launching a campaign of non-cooperation to press for the government’s resignation. Violence spread across the country.

“Those who are currently protesting on the streets are not students but terrorists who are destabilizing the country,” Hasina said after a national security panel meeting with leaders of the army, navy, air force, police and other agencies. Ready to stabilize.” “I appeal to our countrymen to crush these terrorists firmly.”

Police stations and ruling party offices were targeted as violence erupted across the country, home to 170 million people.

At least five people were killed and dozens injured in fierce clashes in the capital, Dhaka, according to police and witnesses. Two construction workers were killed and 30 injured in a three-way clash between protesters, police and ruling party workers in the central district of Munshiganj.

“They were brought dead to the hospital with bullet wounds,” said Abu Hena Mohammad Jamal, the superintendent of the district hospital.

Police denied firing shots and attributed the injuries to an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion as the area turned into a battlefield.

In the northeastern district of Pabna, at least three people were killed and 50 injured during clashes between protesters and activists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League, according to witnesses. Three people were also killed in the violence in the northern district of Bogora, while 30 more were killed in 12 other districts, according to hospital officials.

“The attack on the hospital is unacceptable,” Health Minister Samantha Lal Sen said after a group ransacked the Medical College Hospital in Dhaka and set vehicles, including an ambulance, on fire.

According to mobile operators, this is the second time the government has shut down high-speed internet services during recent protests. Social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp were inaccessible, even through a broadband connection.

According to a classified government memo seen by Reuters, Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday instructed the country’s telecoms to disable 4G services, effectively shutting down Internet access.

“You are requested to shut down all your 4G services until further notice; only 2G will be effective,” the document released by the National Telecommunications Monitoring Center, a government intelligence agency, said.

According to sources familiar with the situation, telecom companies were earlier warned that their licenses could be revoked if they did not comply with government orders. The telecom regulatory body did not respond to calls from Reuters.

Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence by student groups protesting government job quotas. The protests subsided after the Supreme Court struck down most of the quotas, but students resumed sporadic protests last week demanding justice for the families of those killed.

“I think the genie is out of the bottle, and Hasina probably won’t be able to put it back in,” said Shakeel Ahmed, an associate professor of government and politics at Jahangirnagar University. “The prime minister should immediately form a national government to facilitate greater unity.”