Bangladesh: 32 dead in violence, state TV on fire, internet cut

Clashes in Bangladesh between the police and students, who demonstrate against hiring quotas in the public service, left 32 dead in 48 hours, including a journalist, according to a new assessment was established on Thursday, and the headquarters of state television was closed. set on fire, the internet was cut.

At the end of this new day of violence, the Internet was virtually cut off in the country, said NetBlocks, a network monitoring organization.

< p>“Real-time data shows that Bangladesh is currently affected by a near-total internet shutdown,” the group said on X.

Hundreds of demonstrators overwhelmed riot police who shot them with rubber bullets, and chased the police who took refuge at the BTV headquarters in Dhaka, the capital.

The angry crowd then set fire to the channel's reception and dozens of vehicles parked outside, a BTV official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Clashes between police officers and students opposed to quotas in the public service, July 18, 2024 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

A station manager told AFP that employees were able to evacuate the building safely.

“The fire continues ( …) Our broadcast has been interrupted for the moment,” he added. “

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday condemned the “murder” of demonstrators in a televised speech, and promised that those responsible would be punished regardless of their political affiliation.

But that was not enough. worsened as the police again attempted to disperse the demonstrations with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters

.

Clashes between police officers and students opposed to quotas in the public service, July 18, 2024 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

“We first demand that the Prime Minister apologize to us,” Bidisha Rimjhim, an 18-year-old protester, told AFP. “Justice must be done for our killed brothers,” she added.

At least 25 people, including a journalist, were killed on Thursday, in addition to the seven deaths reported earlier in the week, according to a hospital count compiled by AFP, with hundreds more injured.

Police “non-lethal” weapons are the cause of more than two thirds of these deaths, according to descriptions provided to AFP by hospitals.

– “Like a dictator” –

New clashes have erupted in several Bangladeshi cities throughout of the day as riot police charged the protesters, who began a new round of human blockades on roads and highways.

Students opposed to quotas in the civil service hit a police officer during clashes in Dhaka, July 18, 2024 in Bangladesh © AFP – MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

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Helicopters rescued 60 police officers trapped on the roof of a Canadian university campus on Thursday, the scene of violent clashes in the capital, the Rapid Action Battalion said in a statement.

The remains of three students and a rickshaw driver were taken to a hospital in Dhaka. “They were injured by rubber bullets,” deputy director of Kuwait Moitri Hospital, Mahfuz Ara Begum, told AFP.

“More 150 students are also being treated here, most of them were hit by rubber bullets in the eyes,” she added.

“We have seven deaths here.” , a manager at Uttara Crescent Hospital in Dhaka told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The first two were students with rubber bullet wounds. The other five had gunshot wounds,” he said.

Clashes between police officers and students opposed to quotas in the public service, July 18, 2024 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

A thousand other people were treated in hospital for injuries sustained during clashes with police, the official said, adding that many of them were shot and wounded in rubber.

Didar Malekin of the online media outlet Dhaka Times told AFP that Mehedi Hasan, one of his reporters, was killed while he was covering the clashes in Dhaka.

Other hospitals reported 14 more deaths to AFP on Thursday, including 10 in Dhaka, two in the port city of Chittagong and two in neighboring towns.

Near-daily protests are demanding an end to the quota system that opponents say benefits the children of groups supporting Sheikh Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009.

Clashes between police and students opposing civil service quotas, July 18, 2024 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladesh expert at the University of Oslo in Norway, said the protests had turned into an expression of widespread discontent with the regime.

“They are protesting the repressive nature of the state,” he told AFP. “The protesters are questioning Hasina's leadership, accusing her of clinging to power by force,” he added. “The students actually call her a dictator.”

– Fighting “disinformation” –

Residents reported mobile internet outages across the country on Thursday, two days after internet providers cut access to Facebook, the main platform for organizing the protest campaign.

Clashes between police officers and students opposed to quotas in the public service, July 18, 2024 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – Munir UZ ZAMAN

Deputy Minister of Telecommunications, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, told AFP that the government had ordered the network to be cut off to avoid “rumours, lies and disinformation”.

Alongside the police repression, demonstrators and students allied with the Prime Minister's ruling Awami League also clashed in the streets with bricks and bamboo sticks .

Amnesty International said video evidence of this week's clashes showed Bangladeshi security forces used illegitimate force.

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