As Sheikh Hasina deploys military and imposes curfew, protesters take to streets despite rising death toll – Firstpost

In Bangladesh, demonstrators took to the streets against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina despite the military deployment and a nationwide curfew.

The death toll continued to rise as more clashes broke out between protesters and government troops on Saturday. More than 130 deaths have been reported so far.

Although the morning was quiet and the streets largely deserted, protesters returned to the streets later in the day and clashed with police.

The clashes occurred as the Bangladeshi military patrolled the country’s streets in armoured vehicles amid a nationwide curfew. Hasina had announced the nationwide crackdown on Friday amid internet shutdowns across the country. But even those measures have failed to quell protesters who have taken to the streets against her almost daily this month.

More than 130 dead, over 700 injured

According to AFP, at least 133 people were killed in clashes between protesters and government troops this week.

The agency had previously reported more than 700 injuries.

According to the agency, at least 18 deaths were reported in and around the capital Dhaka on Saturday.

Fourteen of the victims had already died on Saturday, four others succumbed to their injuries and had already been admitted to hospital.

Staff at Dhaka Medical College Hospital told the agency that two policemen and nine other people were killed on Saturday. Three more protesters were killed in Savar, a large industrial town on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Friday was particularly deadly, when over 50 people were killed.

Hasina wants to crush protests with an iron fist

Although it began as a student protest, it has now developed into a full-blown movement against Hasina.

For the past 15 years, Hasina has ruled without significant opposition. She won the parliamentary elections earlier this year with virtually no opposition, as the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted the election. The protests against the quota system in the country were anti-Hasina from the start.

Although the United Nations (UN) had called for restraint, Hasina responded with military force. On Friday, she ordered the deployment of the military and imposed a nationwide curfew. The internet has also been shut down in the country since Thursday.

Bangladesh is also facing a media blackout of sorts, with the websites of major newspapers such as the Dhaka Tribune and Daily Star offline and unable to update their social media accounts. State-run broadcaster Bangladesh Television is also offline after protesters set fire to its headquarters in Dhaka.

The immediate trigger for the protests was public rejection of the quota system in Bangladesh, which reserves more than 50 percent of public service jobs for certain groups, such as the children of veterans of the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971.

Critics say the quota system is rigged in Hasina’s favour because the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), led by her family, played a central role in the liberation war and her father Mujibur Rahman was the leader of the movement and the first president of Bangladesh after its founding. Therefore, critics say, these seats are de facto reserved for the children of Hasina’s supporters.

Protests against the system have now also become a movement against her, as critics have long claimed that the country experienced a significant democratic decline during her 15-year rule. Protesters are demanding her resignation and have now targeted her rather than simply protesting against the quota system.

Pierre Prakash of the Crisis Group told AFP that the lack of alternatives in the elections led to the protests on the streets.

“With no real alternative at the ballot box, dissatisfied Bangladeshis have little choice but to protest on the streets to make their voices heard,” Prakash said.

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