Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan informed BBC Bangla {that a} formal determination on the curfew could be issued quickly.
Three folks have been killed on Friday as police suppressed relentless student-led protests in opposition to authorities job quotas regardless of a ban on public gatherings, native media stated.
A Reuters reporter stated police fired tear gasoline in some areas to disperse protesters. A person stated he noticed a number of fires within the capital Dhaka from his rooftop, with thick smoke rising into the sky in a number of locations.
Telecommunications have been additionally disrupted and tv information channels went off the air. Authorities minimize off some cell phone companies the day earlier than in an try to quell the unrest.
Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo reported that practice companies have been suspended throughout the nation as protesters blocked roads and hurled bricks at safety officers.
Violence broke out in 47 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts on Thursday, leaving 27 folks lifeless and 1,500 injured.
Agence France-Presse quoted hospital sources as saying that the demise toll from the protests on Friday evening had reached 105. Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the stories and police didn’t launch a casualty toll. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka stated it had reported greater than 40 deaths throughout Bangladesh and “a whole bunch and probably 1000’s” of accidents.
In a safety alert, it stated protests have been spreading, with stories of violent clashes throughout Dhaka. The report stated the scenario was “extraordinarily unstable”.
The protests initially broke out amid pupil anger over a quota that reserves 30 % of presidency jobs for the households of those that fought for Pakistan’s independence.
The nationwide unrest is the most important since Hasina was re-elected this 12 months and is fueled by excessive unemployment amongst younger folks, who make up practically a fifth of the inhabitants of 170 million.
Some analysts say the present violence can be pushed by broader financial woes, equivalent to excessive inflation and shrinking overseas trade reserves.
The protests have opened up an previous and delicate political fault line between Bangladesh’s fighters for independence from Pakistan in 1971 and people accused of colluding with Islamabad.
The previous consists of Hasina’s Awami League social gathering, which calls the protesters “Lazaka” – a time period used to explain independence-era collaborators.
Worldwide human rights teams criticized the suspension of companies and the actions of safety forces. The EU stated it was deeply involved in regards to the violence and casualties.
“It’s essential to keep away from additional violence and discover a peaceable resolution to the scenario as shortly as attainable, based mostly on the rule of legislation and democratic freedoms,” it stated in an announcement.
Neighboring India stated the unrest was Bangladesh’s inner matter and that every one 15,000 Indians within the nation have been protected. Indians learning in Bangladesh are returning by highway.
Protest-related violence additionally erupted in faraway London, residence to a big Bangladeshi inhabitants, the place police needed to quell clashes between massive teams of males within the east of the British capital.
Telecommunications outages, web sites hacked
The Web and worldwide calls have been down since Friday, and several other Bangladeshi newspapers haven’t up to date their web sites and will not be lively on social media.
A Reuters reporter stated there have been a couple of voice calls however no cell knowledge or broadband. Not even textual content messages have been transmitted.
Information tv channels and state broadcaster BTV have been off the air, however leisure channels have been working usually, he stated.
Some information channels displayed a message blaming technical issues and promising to renew programming quickly.
The official web sites of the central financial institution, the Prime Minister’s Workplace and the police seem to have been hacked by a gaggle calling themselves “THE R3SISTANC3”.
“Manhunt, cease killing college students,” learn the identical message on the web site, including in crimson letters: “That is now not a protest, it is a warfare.”
One other message on the web page reads: “Governments have shut down the web to silence us and conceal their actions.”
The federal government didn’t touch upon communications points.
On Thursday, it had provided to carry talks with protesters however was rebuffed.
Tarique Rahman, the exiled performing president of the primary opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion (BNP), stated many opposition leaders, activists and pupil protesters had been arrested. Reuters couldn’t verify the arrests.
