Nearly 100 dead during student protests in Bangladesh

Several hospitals in Dhaka confirmed on Friday that 44 people had died in the fifth consecutive day of violence in the student protests in Bangladesh, bringing the total number of deaths to nearly 100, most of them students, so far this week.

The deaths were confirmed to EFE in three hospitals in the Bangladeshi capital, which linked the causes of death to violence and clashes with security forces.

Authorities have not yet released an official death toll.

EFE has so far confirmed the deaths of 97 people in the protests, which were largely peaceful when they began two weeks ago but have become increasingly violent since Monday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected student demands for reform of public employment quotas, which they say are detrimental to them, and tensions boiled over when police began violently repressing the protests.

Chaos has since escalated across much of the country, especially in the capital, where protests continued on Friday despite authorities’ restrictions on mass gatherings.

The country also woke up cut off from communication after fixed line and Internet services were suspended at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday (3:00 p.m. GMT), which have not yet been restored, cutting off all flow of information on the situation of the protests.

The blockade also continues on the streets, with train services suspended and banking services interrupted, with no possibility of making transactions or withdrawing money from ATMs.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters today that a curfew will be in effect in Bangladesh from midnight, although he did not specify the time, and announced the deployment of the Army to help control the situation.

The quota issue is now before the Supreme Court, which decided last month to reinstate the controversial measure, which had been abolished in 2018 following a strong student movement, thus reviving discontent.

Although the matter is initially set to be heard in the first week of August, according to Bangladeshi media, the government told the students yesterday that it might try to bring forward the date due to growing instability in the country.