At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes in Bangladesh on Sunday as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse tens of thousands of protesters calling for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
The death toll, which includes at least 13 policemen, was the highest for a single day from any protests in Bangladesh’s recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets to demand the scrapping of quotas for government jobs.
The government declared an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday, the first time it has taken such a step during the current protests that began last month. It also announced a three-day general holiday starting from Monday.
The unrest, which has prompted the government to shut down internet services, is Hasina’s biggest test in her 20-year regime after she won a fourth straight term in elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Critics of Hasina, along with human rights groups, have accused her government of using excessive force against protesters, a charge she and her ministers deny.
Demonstrators blocked major highways on Sunday as student protesters launched a non-cooperation program to press for the government’s resignation, and violence spread nationwide.
“Those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation,” Hasina said after a national security panel meeting, attended by the chiefs of the army, navy, air force, police and other agencies.
“I appeal to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a strong hand.”
Police stations and ruling party offices were targeted as violence rocked the country of 170 million people.
Thirteen policemen were beaten to death in the north-western district of Sirajganj, police said. Nine others were killed in the district, where two lawmakers’ homes were set on fire.
At least 11 people, including two students and a ruling party leader, were killed and dozens injured amid fierce clashes in several places in the capital, Dhaka, police and witnesses said.
India’s foreign ministry urged its nationals not to travel to Bangladesh until further notice.
