Toll in Bangladesh protests rises above 100 as Dhaka falls quiet under curfew

According to a Washington Post tally of hospital and police reports, at least 110 people have been killed in the demonstrations over the past four days — the most of any protests in Bangladesh in over a decade. Police forces said several of their personnel are among the dead. Thousands have been wounded, mostly in Dhaka.

Mohammed Abir, a medical examiner at the morgue at Dhaka Medical College hospital, said he received 33 bodies Friday evening.

The U.N. humans rights chief, Volker Türk, on Friday called the violence “shocking and unacceptable” and urged restraint. There needs to be “impartial, prompt and exhaustive investigations” into the attacks against students, he said, adding that he was especially worried about the actions of the government’s paramilitary police units, “which have long track records of violations.”

Dhaka and several other major Bangladeshi cities have been engulfed this past week by protests against a new governmental policy of reserving a portion of civil service jobs for specific groups, including descendants of the nation’s freedom fighters. The quota system, seen as unfair, has fueled explosive anger toward the government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which has deployed increasingly draconian methods to quell the unrest.

On Friday, protesters stormed a jail in the district of Narsingdi, northeast of the capital, freeing hundreds of inmates. Police posts across Dhaka were set on fire as paramilitary and military forces deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and smoke bombs to disperse large crowds.

At the end of the night, the government announced a nationwide curfew, ordering people to stay home Saturday. There would be a two-hour window for public movement from noon to 2 p.m., officials said.

Internet services have been shut down and mobile services disrupted in a near-total “blackout” that has left much of the country’s 170 million people unreachable. Banks have reported disruptions in operations.

On Saturday, calls from The Washington Post to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, went unanswered. Hasina has canceled a pre-planned trip to Europe to deal with the unrest, her office said.

Bangladeshi officials say they have slowed internet connectivity to stop the spread of misinformation. But in a letter, a coalition of more than 300 digital rights groups said it is likely to have the opposite effect by reducing people’s ability to counteract misinformation and spurring panic. “Government agencies have a duty to ensure that people can access open, secure, and unrestricted internet when they need it the most,” the #KeepItOn coalition wrote.

Another digital rights advocacy group, Asia Internet Coalition, urged Bangladesh “to consider the serious impact of its action on its people and the country’s reputation as an investment destination.”

Tan reported from Singapore.