A Excessive Safety Alert has been issued for the entire of Bangladesh, as violent clashes between college students and police proceed.
The capital Dhaka is within the midst of a near-total web blackout, with cellphone strains additionally down.
On Thursday night, a number of thousand protestors stormed the state broadcaster BTV, vandalising furnishings, smashing home windows and lights and setting elements of it on fireplace.
Bangladesh’s data minister informed the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most workers had left the constructing within the capital.
A put up on BTV’s official Fb web page had earlier warned “many” had been trapped contained in the constructing, and appealed for assist from the fireplace service to place the blaze out.
A senior BTV journalist, who didn’t need to be named, informed the BBC: “The state of affairs was so dangerous we didn’t have every other possibility however to depart the place. A few of our colleagues had been trapped inside. I don’t know what occurred to them.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the community on Wednesday night time, interesting for calm after days of violent protests which have left not less than 19 individuals useless, presumably many extra, and lots of injured.
College students have been holding rallies demanding change to a system which reserves a 3rd of public sector jobs for the kin of veterans of the nation’s struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971.
The scholars are arguing that the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based mostly on advantage.
The federal government has been making an attempt to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the nation’s cell web in an try to gradual the scholars.
As a substitute, it grew to become the deadliest day to date, in keeping with information company AFP. In keeping with its depend citing hospitals, a complete of 32 individuals have died in the course of the protests.
The BBC’s Bengali service has confirmed 19 deaths to date – 13 of them on Thursday. Among the many useless was a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Occasions.
Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters’ deaths as “homicide” in her Wednesday tv look, however her phrases had been largely dismissed by protest organisers, who rejected authorities presents of talks.
“The federal government has killed so many individuals in a day that we can not be part of any discussions within the present circumstances,” mentioned Nahid Iqbal, a frontrunner of the anti-quota protest.
One other scholar, Aleem Khan, 22, informed the BBC: “The Prime Minister is asking for an finish to the violence with one hand while, with the opposite hand, attacking college students utilizing pro-ruling celebration teams and the police.”
Thursday noticed tear fuel and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as college students created human blockades within the streets.
The scholars who stormed BTV had earlier “torched” a police station, in keeping with an official on the community.
“They chased the cops after they took refuge on the BTV workplace,” the official informed AFP. “Offended protesters then induced mayhem right here.”
Elsewhere, BBC Bengali spoke to a bunch of medical college students who had been taking shelter inside a medical school compound after they had been attacked by pro-ruling celebration teams.
One of many college students, Sumi, informed the BBC: “I’m right here to protest in opposition to discrimination throughout the civil service and now that so many college students have been killed by the police, I’m additionally protesting in opposition to that.
“Our protest is peaceable, however the way in which wherein we had been attacked made me really feel like we had been going to be killed by pro-ruling celebration teams.”
