- Police fire tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters.
- The government declared an indefinite national curfew on Sunday.
- “The government has killed many students,” says the protest coordinator.
DHAKA: Protesting students in Bangladesh have called for a march to the capital Dhaka on Monday, defying a nationwide curfew to pressure Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, a day after deadly clashes in the South Asian country killed nearly 100 people.
Bangladesh has been engulfed by protests and violence that began last month after student groups demanded the scrapping of a controversial quota system for government jobs. This led to a campaign to seek the impeachment of Hasina, who won a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.
At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in a wave of violence in the country of 170 million people, where police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters. A nationwide curfew was imposed from Sunday afternoon, railways suspended services and the country's huge textile industry shut down.
Sunday's death toll, which included at least 13 police officers, was the highest in a single day at any protest in Bangladesh's recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets against quotas.
The government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Sunday and also announced a three-day general holiday starting Monday.
“The government has killed many students. The time has come to give the final answer,” protest coordinator Asif Mahmud said in a statement posted on Facebook on Sunday evening. “Everyone will come to Dhaka, especially those from the surrounding districts. Come to Dhaka and take a stand on the streets.”
The Bangladesh Army has urged everyone to obey curfew rules.
“The Bangladesh Army will perform its promised duty in accordance with the Constitution of Bangladesh and the existing laws of the country,” it said in a statement on Sunday evening.
“In this regard, the public is requested to observe the curfew and provide full cooperation for this purpose,” he said, adding that the curfew was imposed to ensure the safety of people's lives, property and important state establishments.
Over the weekend, attacks, vandalism and arson attacks targeted government buildings, offices of the ruling Awami League party, police stations and houses of public officials, local media reported. Cases of violence were reported in 39 of the country's 64 districts.
The role of the army in the spotlight
Bangladesh Railway said it had suspended all services indefinitely due to the escalating violence.
The country's garment factories, which supply garments to some of the world's leading brands, have also been closed indefinitely.
“In view of the current situation, the owners have decided to close down all the garment factories across the country, considering the overall safety of the workers,” the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said.
The unrest, which has prompted the government to shut down internet services, is the biggest test for Hasina in her 20-year rule after she won a fourth consecutive term in elections that were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Hasina's critics, along with human rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, an allegation she and her ministers deny.
For the second time during the recent protests, the government has shut down high-speed internet services, mobile operators said. Social media platforms Facebook and WhatsApp were unavailable, even through broadband connections.
Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence unleashed by student groups protesting against quotas for government jobs.
The protests stopped after the Supreme Court scrapped most of the quotas, but students returned to the streets in sporadic protests last week, demanding justice for the families of those killed and Hasina's resignation.
Hasina said that “those who carry out acts of violence are not students but terrorists seeking to destabilise the nation.”
The role of the country's military in fighting the violence has come into sharp focus with a group of retired military officers urging Hasina to withdraw troops from the streets and take “political initiatives” to resolve the crisis.
Chief of the Army General Staff, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, has stated that the army will always be there to defend the interests of the people and to meet all the needs of the state. He is scheduled to brief the media on Monday.
