Commentary
The communications outage led to the websites of Prime Minister Hasina’s office and the Bangladesh Central Bank being hacked.
Bangladesh announced a nationwide night-time curfew that will come into effect early Saturday. Communication failure The country of 170 million people has become isolated from the world as clashes between students and security forces escalate.
Speaking from Dhaka, Al Jazeera reporter Faisal Mahmood said troops were deployed on the streets of the Bangladeshi capital.
The government has banned rallies in Dhaka, where buildings were set on fire in clashes on Thursday. Government employee allocationAt least 19 people were killed in the violence up until Friday. Mahmoud said more people were killed in Friday’s fighting.
The protests have taken on new forms since the government cut off telephone and internet connections, including hacking attacks on key government websites.
We will have more details on the protests and future developments.
What is the latest news from Bangladesh?
The protests began several weeks ago but violence escalated earlier this week after activists from the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, attacked student protesters.
As protesters refused to back down, the government on Wednesday ordered the closure of all universities at the epicenter of the anti-capital movement, but students have refused to leave the campuses, leading to tense standoffs.
And on Thursday, those tensions exploded into deadly violence. Thousands of students Armed Police Eleven people, including the bus driver and a student, were killed in the clashes in Dhaka, a police source told Al Jazeera. AFP reported that 39 people had been killed so far this week, including 32 on Thursday alone. Local media reported that at least 28 people had been killed as of Thursday. Al Jazeera could not independently verify these figures.
The violence continued on Friday as a total internet shutdown was imposed, and by evening the government announced a curfew would be imposed from midnight, effectively making it illegal for protesters to gather.
Buildings are set on fire, the internet goes down, bank websites are hacked
Authorities cut off mobile phone and internet services. anxiety The South Asian country faces a complete nationwide internet shutdown, according to monitoring group NetBlocks.
Police issued a statement accusing protesters of burning and vandalising buildings including police and government offices, including the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which remains off the air.
The websites of major media outlets, including the Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune, remained offline.
In addition, several official Bangladeshi websites appear to have been hacked by a group calling itself “THE R3SISTANC3.”
The hacked websites include those of the Central Bank, the Prime Minister’s Office and the police.
“Stop the killing of students” was the message on the website of Prime Minister Hasina’s office, followed in bright red capital letters by “This is no longer a protest. It’s now war.”
Details of the alleged hacking are scarce, and the central bank and police websites were not accessible despite attempts by Al Jazeera to contact them.
Why are students protesting against quota system in Bangladesh?
University students across Bangladesh Employment quota system Reform is needed. Under this system, more than half of the highly sought-after government jobs are
The protests erupted after the High Court on June 5 ordered the reinstatement of a 30 percent quota for descendants of veterans who served in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
The quota system has been in place since 1972 and was abolished by President Hasina in 2018 following student protests, but a court reinstated it in June.
The students argue that jobs reserved for veterans will benefit a small minority of people affiliated with the Awami League, which led the independence movement.
Unemployment is Widespread in Bangladesh40% of young people are not working or attending college.
What’s next?
Following an appeal by the government, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s decision to reinstate the quota. It set August 7 as the date to hear the government’s challenge to the High Court ruling.
The Hasina government has said it agrees with students to abolish the quota system and is expected to reiterate its position in the Supreme Court, but student protesters are demanding legal reform to oppose the quota system and say they have no confidence in the government.
How did Prime Minister Hasina respond?
Prime Minister Hasina on Wednesday appealed to students to be patient and urged them to await the Supreme Court’s verdict.
On the same day, the Prime Minister also announced a judicial inquiry to look into the murder that took place.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Hasina said the protesters were “Razakar“This is an insulting term against those who collaborated with Pakistan during the 1971 war,” he said. The comparison drew further anger from protesters.
- On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matt Miller condemned the violence against the protesters. “Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are essential foundations for a thriving democracy, and we condemn any violence against peaceful protesters,” Miller said. The State Department has since reiterated its concern about the violence in Bangladesh.
- U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “restraint from all sides” at a news conference Thursday, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “We call on the Bangladeshi authorities to work with the country’s young people to find solutions to ongoing challenges and to foster their energies for the growth and development of the country.”
- On Wednesday, Amnesty International condemned the Bangladeshi authorities. “The Bangladeshi authorities have used unlawful force against student protesters and failed to protect them,” the international rights group said.
- “Amnesty International strongly condemns the murder of student Abu Said and the attacks on quota reform protesters across the country,” said Takbir Huda, South Asia regional researcher at Amnesty International.
- A group of activists from the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) gathered in New Delhi on Friday to express solidarity with the protesting students in Bangladesh.
