The curfew comes amid a telecommunications blackout that has left the nation of 170 million reduce off from the world.
Bangladesh has introduced the imposition of a curfew and the deployment of army forces after days of clashes at protests in opposition to authorities job quotas throughout the nation.
“The federal government has determined to impose a curfew and deploy the army in assist of the civilian authorities,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan, informed the information company AFP, including that the curfew would take speedy impact.
Police within the capital, Dhaka, earlier banned all public gatherings for the day – a primary since protests started – to forestall extra violence.
Nonetheless, that didn’t cease one other spherical of confrontations between police and protesters across the sprawling metropolis of 20 million folks regardless of an web shutdown aimed toward irritating the organisation of rallies.
Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, stated the introduction of the curfew, which started at midnight (18:00 GMT on Friday) will solely add to the general public’s confusion and a way of unrest within the nation.
“Folks weren’t in a position to exit the final two days due to the shutdown. Now you have got a curfew, and the web has been utterly shut down since early yesterday [Thursday] night,” he stated.
Chowdhury stated the federal government hopes to maintain “college students and the general public off the road” with the curfew as a result of it senses it’s dropping management of the protests.
He added that the protesters gave the impression to be in “no temper for compromise” whereas the federal government is “more and more dropping management of the state of affairs on the road regardless of utilizing paramilitary forces and police”.
The student protests erupted after the Excessive Court docket on June 5 ordered the reinstatement of a 30 % reservation of presidency jobs for youngsters of veterans who participated within the nation’s liberation motion in 1971.
Violent confrontations broke out on Monday after pupil protesters had been attacked by activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the coed wing of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League celebration.
On Thursday, hundreds of scholars clashed with armed police in Dhaka. At the very least 11 folks had been killed, together with a bus driver and a pupil, police sources informed Al Jazeera.
It was not instantly clear if there have been deaths on the protests on Friday. Bangladesh’s Impartial Tv channel reported 17 extra deaths on Friday. Somoy TV reported that 30 folks had been killed. Al Jazeera has not been in a position to independently confirm these numbers.
The federal government has shut down all private and non-private universities and despatched safety forces onto campuses. It stated it’s keen to satisfy pupil leaders.
Demonstrators stated they need accountability for the killings earlier than they focus on a doable compromise with the federal government.