Bangladesh army in large numbers as police fire on protesters

Soldiers patrolled cities across Bangladesh on Saturday to quell growing unrest sparked by student protests, with riot police firing on demonstrators who defied a government curfew.

At least 123 people have been killed in this week’s violence so far, according to an AFP report from police and hospitals, posing a huge challenge to the autocratic government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years.

A curfew was imposed at midnight and the prime minister’s office requested the military to deploy troops after police again failed to quell widespread chaos.

“The army has been deployed nationwide to monitor the law and order situation,” armed forces spokesman Shahdat Hossain told AFP.

The curfew will remain in place until at least 10:00 a.m. (04:00 GMT) on Sunday, commercial broadcaster Channel 24 reported.

At dawn, the streets of the capital Dhaka were nearly deserted, with troops on foot and in armored vehicles patrolling the sprawling metropolis of 20 million people.

Later in the day, thousands of people returned to the streets in the Rampura residential area. Police fired into the crowd, wounding at least one person.

“We have our backs to the wall,” protester Nazrul Islam, 52, told AFP at the scene. “There is anarchy in the country… They are shooting people like birds.”

Hospitals have reported a rising number of deaths from shootings to AFP since Thursday.

“Hundreds of thousands of people” clashed with police in the capital on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP.

“At least 150 police officers were hospitalized. Another 150 received first aid,” he said, adding that two officers had been beaten to death.

“The protesters set fire to many police stations… Many government buildings were set on fire and destroyed.”

Staff at Dhaka Medical College Hospital told AFP that two more police officers were killed on Saturday, while four people in intensive care died of their injuries. Two more protesters were killed in the industrial town of Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka, a major hub for Bangladesh’s garment exports.

Enam Medical College Hospital spokesman Zahidur Rahman confirmed the latest deaths to AFP, adding that “nine people arrived here with gunshot wounds”.

A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main organisation organising the protests, told AFP that two of its leaders had been arrested since Friday.

Hasina was due to leave the country on Sunday for a diplomatic trip, but canceled her plans after a week of escalating violence.