BANGLADESH Curfew in Dhaka to curb toughest protests against Hasina

The army is on the streets, demonstrations are banned and the Internet is blocked. Some sources say at least 105 people have died and 1,500 have been injured in the clashes. A prison was attacked and set on fire, and inmates were forced to flee, in a fierce confrontation that goes beyond the question of quotas for access to public jobs. Hundreds of Indian students have been repatriated, while Delhi has avoided commenting on the clashes.

Milan (/Agencies) – The curfew has been lifted across Bangladesh, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has ordered the deployment of the military to restore order in the face of protests that have been going on for almost two weeks and which have seen an escalation of violence in the past two days. The Internet and communications blackout is still in place in the country, but sources consulted by the AFP agency report that the death toll from the clashes has risen to 105 dead and more than 1,500 wounded.

The curfew in Bangladesh was announced by Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, who said it was necessary for the civil administration to maintain order in what is shaping up to be the most serious crisis for Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Pakistan Liberation War hero Mujibur Rahman, who has ruled uninterruptedly since 2009. Police reportedly fired tear gas and opened fire on protesters, banning all gatherings in the capital Dhaka. As well as schools and universities, metro and train links to and from Dhaka were also closed. In the preceding hours, protesters had also stormed a jail in Narsingdi district, freeing inmates before setting the facility on fire.

As has already explained in recent daysThe protests were sparked by student opposition to the quota system in public recruitment, which still reserves 30% of jobs for descendants of combatants in the 1971 war and is widely seen as a patronage tool in the hands of the Awami League. The frontal opposition of youth movements linked to the ruling party, together with harsh police repression, turned this particular protest into a total opposition to the government of Sheikh Hasina. The long-standing discontent with the repression of dissent thus came together in this protest.

Before the internet blackout, according to Reuters news agency, the official websites of the central bank, the prime minister’s office and the police had been hacked by a group calling itself “THE R3SISTANC3”. “Operation HuntDown, stop the killing of students. It’s no longer a protest, it’s now a war,” some messages disappeared.

The situation in Bangladesh is also being followed with concern in neighbouring India, which has thousands of its own citizens living in the country. “For us, this is an internal matter for Bangladesh,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal during a press conference, where he declined to make any official statements. But in this explosive situation, which is also frightening because of the possible repercussions on minorities, hundreds of Indian students have already crossed the border to return to their home states in northeastern India.