Police in Bangladesh have been granted “shoot on sight” orders and a nationwide curfew has been imposed as student-led protests continue to roil the country, leaving more than 100 people dead.
The curfew, imposed at midnight on Friday, was expected to last until Sunday morning as police tried to bring the swiftly deteriorating security situation under control, with military personnel patrolling the streets of the capital.
The curfew was lifted briefly on Saturday afternoon to allow people to run essential errands, but otherwise people have been ordered to remain at home and all gatherings and demonstrations have been banned. The government has also imposed a communications blackout, with all internet and social media access blocked since Thursday night.
While the government is not releasing official statistics of fatalities and injuries, local media has estimated thousands have been injured and that the death toll has hit 115.
In extreme cases, police officers have been granted powers to open fire on those violating the curfew, confirmed Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party.
The protests that have spread across Bangladesh are some of the worst the country has experienced in more than a decade. They began earlier this month on university campuses as students protested against the reintroduction of civil service job quotas that they say are discriminatory and benefit the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister.
This week, the protests have spread far beyond campus grounds and grown into a larger movement against Hasina’s government, which has ruled since 2009. Hasina is accused of overseeing rampant authoritarianism, police brutality and corruption, with her re-election in January boycotted by the opposition and widely documented as rigged. The country’s economy has also suffered a severe economic downturn since the outbreak of Covid, leaving hundreds of millions unemployed and grappling with record inflation.
Shafkat Mahmud, 28, a student protester from Uttara, a neighbourhood of Dhaka, said this was no longer just a student protest, but nationwide civilian unrest akin to “civil war”.
Mahmud alleged that after the government shut down the internet on Thursday night, police had gone from using rubber bullets to live ammunition. He described how he and fellow protesters had been attacked on Friday by pro-government supporters who carried machetes and guns and had seen buses carrying away the dead in the aftermath.
“Since the government’s forces have been violently attacking us, our families have joined us in protests,” he said. “Our fight initially was about quotas but after witnessing the brutality and cruelty with which the police attacked the protesters, it’s now about change. We are marching for this government to step down.”
Pro-government student groups attacked protesters earlier this week and police were accused of instigating violence by firing teargas, rubber bullets and stun grenades at the demonstrators. Protesters then invaded the state-run broadcaster, setting it alight, and also broke into a prison in central Bangladesh on Friday, freeing hundreds of prisoners.
According to those on the ground, Friday was the deadliest day of the protests so far, with police accused of firing live ammunition at demonstrators and at least 40 people likely to have been killed in the violence.
Representatives from both sides met late on Friday in an attempt to reach a resolution, with several student leaders demanding a complete reform of the quota system and for universities to be reopened. The law and justice minister, Anisul Huq, said late on Friday that the government was open to discussing their demands.