43 dead as clashes rock Bangladesh, curfew imposed

At least 43 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes in Bangladesh yesterday, as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
The government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew from 6pm (1200GMT) yesterday, the first time it has taken such a step during the current protests that began last month. It also announced a three-day general holiday starting from today.
The unrest, which has prompted the government to shut down internet services, is Hasina’s biggest test since January when deadly protests erupted after she won a fourth straight term in elections that were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Critics of Hasina, along with human rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force to stamp out the movement, a charge she and her ministers deny.
Demonstrators blocked major highways yesterday as student protesters launched a non-co-operation programme to press for the government’s resignation, and violence spread nationwide.
“Those who are protesting on the streets right now are not students, but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation,” Hasina said after a national security panel meeting, attended by the chiefs of the army, navy, air force, police and other agencies.
“I appeal to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a strong hand.” In several cases, soldiers and police did not intervene to stem the protests, unlike the past month of rallies.
In a hugely symbolic rebuke of Hasina, a respected former army chief demanded the government withdraw troops and allow protests.
“There were clashes between students and the ruling party men,” police inspector Al Helal said, saying two young men were killed in Dhaka’s Munshiganj district.
“One of the dead was hacked in his head and another had gunshot injuries.” Another policeman, who asked not to be identified, said “the whole city has turned into a battleground”.
Some former military officers have joined the student movement and ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan turned his Facebook profile picture red in a show of support.
“We call on the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately,” Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday in a joint statement alongside other senior ex-officers, condemning “egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests”.
“Those who are responsible for pushing people of this country to a state of such an extreme misery will have to be brought to justice”, he said. A group of 47 manufacturers in the economically vital garment sector said yesterday they stood in “solidarity” with the protesters.
Police stations and ruling party offices were targeted as violence rocked the country.
At least five people were killed and dozens injured amid fierce clashes in several places in the capital, Dhaka, police and witnesses said.
Two construction workers were killed on their way to work and 30 injured in the central district of Munsiganj, during a three-way clash of protesters, police and ruling party activists, witnesses said.
“They were brought dead to the hospital with bullet wounds,” said Abu Hena Mohamed Jamal, the superintendent of the district hospital.