Defying a deadly crackdown and national curfew, protesters in Bangladesh have called for a mass march on the capital Dhaka.
The student groups at the forefront of the protests urged a siege of the capital on Monday. The call rackets up the tension further following deadly violence on Sunday that saw close to 100 killed and the announcement of a national curfew.
Demonstrations that began last month over governmental job quotas have expanded into nationwide unrest amid a crackdown by authorities. Protesters are now demanding the resignation of long-term Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“This student-citizen uprising will continue until the fall of Sheikh Hasina,” protest coordinator Asif Mahmud said in a message on Facebook late on Sunday. “Tomorrow is the ‘March to Dhaka’. Travel to Dhaka now to witness history. Join the ultimate fight,” he said.
The violence has so far resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 people, and the tension was simmering in Dhaka on Monday, after authorities announced a nationwide curfew the previous evening.
Army tanks and police vehicles were on the streets and security forces patrolled on foot, an online news channel showed. There was almost no civilian traffic, barring a few motorcycles and three-wheel taxis.
Internet access was tightly restricted, offices were closed and more than 3,500 factories servicing Bangladesh’s economically vital garment industry were shut.
On Monday afternoon, it was announced that Bangladesh’s army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman would address the nation at 2pm local time (08:00 GMT).
Confrontation
At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in a wave of violence across the country of 170 million people as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters.
Protests began last month after student groups demanded the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs. That has now escalated into a campaign to seek the removal of Hasina, who won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.
Sunday’s death toll, which included at least 13 police officers, was the highest for a single day from any protests in Bangladesh’s recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets against the quotas.
However, fears are rising that Monday could see further violence, with both sides appearing set on confrontation.
The government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6pm (12:00 GMT) on Sunday and also announced a three-day general holiday starting from Monday.
Hasina said those who were engaging in the “sabotage” and the destruction in the name of protests were no longer students, but criminals, and that “iron hands” should be used to deal with them.
The Bangladesh army urged people to obey the curfew rules.
“The Bangladesh army will perform its promised duty in line with the Bangladesh constitution and existing laws of the country,” it said in a statement late on Sunday.
“In this regard the people are requested to abide by the curfew as well as give full cooperation to this end,” it said, adding that the curfew was imposed to ensure the security of people’s lives, properties and important state establishments.
