At least 18 more people were killed and over 2,500 injured in Bangladesh on Thursday, media reports said, as violence escalated in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere over student protests demanding quota system reform for government jobs, taking the toll to 25 since the protests erupted.
However, AFP said that the death toll now stood at 32.
Witnesses said the protesters laid a siege on the state-run Bangladesh Television Bhaban in the Rampura area in Dhaka and damaged its front side, torched several parked vehicles while some staff including journalists were trapped inside.
University students in Dhaka and other cities have been holding rallies for more than a week protesting the system of reservation in public sector jobs, including that for the relatives of war heroes, who fought for the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.
“At least 18 people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured in today's nationwide clashes between protesters and law enforcers and ruling party men,” newspaper The Daily Star said.
Bangladesh Suspends Mobile Internet
Bangladesh has suspended some mobile internet services as violent clashes over civil service hiring quotas continue to rock the country.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the junior information technology minister, said mobile internet had been “temporarily suspended” owing to “various rumours” and the “unstable situation created” on social media, Al Jazeera reported.
Services would be restored once the situation returned to normal, he added. Two days earlier, internet providers had cut off access to Facebook – the protesters’ key organising tool.
Protesters Attack Bangladeshi State Broadcaster
Bangladeshi students have set fire to the state broadcaster’s building a day after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, appeared on the network seeking to calm escalating clashes.
Hundreds of protesters demanding reform of civil service hiring rules clashed with riot police who had shot at them with rubber bullets on Thursday, chasing the retreating officers to BTV’s headquarters in the capital, Dhaka.
The incensed crowd then set ablaze the network’s reception building and dozens of vehicles parked outside, a BTV official told AFP.
The broadcaster said “many people” were trapped inside as the fire spread. Another official from the station later told AFP they had safely evacuated the building.
(With agency inputs)
