The former include the Awami League party of Ms Hasina, who branded the protesters “razakar” – making use of a term that described independence-era collaborators.
International rights groups criticised the suspension of services and the action of security forces. The European Union said it is deeply concerned by the violence and loss of life.
“It is vital that further violence is averted and that a peaceful resolution to the situation is found as swiftly as possible, underpinned by the rule of law and democratic freedoms,” it said in a statement.
Neighbour India said the unrest was an internal matter of Bangladesh and that all 15,000 Indians in that country were safe. Indians studying in Bangladesh were returning by road.
Violence linked to the protests also broke out in distant London, which is home to a large Bangladeshi population, and police had to quell clashes between large groups of men in the east of the British capital.
Telecoms disrupted, websites hacked
July 19 began with the internet and overseas telephone calls being crippled, while the websites of several Bangladesh newspapers did not update and were also inactive on social media.
A few voice calls went through, but there was no mobile data or broadband, a Reuters journalist said. Even text messages were not being transmitted.
News television channels and state broadcaster BTV went off the air, although entertainment channels were normal, he said.
Some news channels displayed a message blaming technical problems, and promising to resume programming soon.
The official websites of the central bank, the Prime Minister’s Office and police appeared to have been hacked by a group calling itself “THE R3SISTANC3“.
“Operation HuntDown, Stop Killing Students,” read identical messages splashed on the sites, adding in crimson letters: “It’s not a protest anymore, it’s a war now.”
Another message on the page read, “The government has shut down the internet to silence us and hide their actions.”
The government had no comment on the communications issues.
On July 19, it had said it was willing to hold talks with the protesters but they refused.
Many opposition party leaders, activists, and student protesters had been arrested, said Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Reuters could not confirm the arrests. REUTERS
Source link : https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/bangladesh-to-impose-curfew-deploy-army-as-protests-widen-communications-disrupted
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Publish date : 2024-07-19 19:12:00
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