More than 150 Killed in Bangladesh Protests

Now the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina says a nationwide curfew imposed on Friday night will be lifted as soon as the security situation gets better. Some students say they will continue to protest a day after the Supreme Court scrapped most of the government job quotas they were demonstrating against. They want the government to implement the court order before they call off their demonstrations. More than 150 people have been killed in a week of violence and over 500 arrested, including some leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Now, the quota scheme meant a third of jobs are reserved for relatives of veterans from the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971. A warning that this report from our South Asia correspondent Yogita Limaye contains distressing images.

A third day of troops on the streets, a strict curfew, a near blackout of communication. Bangladesh’s government is using all its might to control public anger. Over the past week, students marched on the streets against quotas in public sector jobs for families of veterans of the 1971 War for Independence, accusing the government of nepotism.

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But the protest became about more than just that issue after a violent crackdown by the police in paramilitary. In this video, verified by the BBC, a young man, injured but alive, left on the streets by security forces. He died later. Outside a Dhaka hospital, Shaheeda Begum. The aunt of sixteen-year-old Imam Hussain who succumbed to gunshot injuries. “My nephew was an innocent child. Why did they kill him in such a brutal way?” She cried. Naheed Islam, one of the protest leaders, told the BBC’s Bengali service that he was tortured by the police.

I was blindfolded and taken from my home. I was interrogated and then beaten badly with iron rods. At one point, I fainted.

Hundreds have been injured in what many describe as the worst violence they’ve seen.

Three of my friends are dead. See, there are blood stains on my hand. Why are my hands colored with the blood of my brothers?

Bangladesh’s government has denied it cracked down on unarmed students. Yesterday, most of the quotas were scrapped by the Supreme Court. For now, students have suspended their protests, but they want this curfew to end and justice for those who’ve been killed. Yogita Limaye, BBC News.