Hundreds of thousands of protesters returned to the streets of the South Asian nation demanding the resignation of prime minister Sheikh Hasina after 200 people were killed earlier this month during anti-quota demonstrations that turned violent.
The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, died in the violence. The Channel 24 news outlet reported at least 85 deaths.
The government in July shut schools and universities across the country, blocked internet access, restricted social media platforms and imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew. The protests subdued for a few days after the Supreme Court scaled back the quota of government jobs reserved for families of the 1971 war heroes. Since then at least 11,000 people have been arrested in recent weeks.
The protesters this week called for “non-cooperation”, urging people not to pay taxes and utility bills and not show up for work yesterday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to work.
This story is from the August 05, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the August 05, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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