Army swing looms as Bangladesh death toll mounts

A new round of violence in Bangladesh has left at least 50 dead and hundreds injured as student protesters clashed with police and ruling party activists yesterday.

The protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, after rallies last month that began with students calling for an end to a quota system for government jobs escalated into violence that left more than 200 dead.

Authorities responded by closing schools and universities, blocked internet access and imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew. Some 11,000 arrests have been made in recent weeks.

Protesters called for "non-cooperation," urging people not to pay taxes and utility bills or show up for work yesterday, a working day in Bangladesh. Offices, banks and factories opened, but commuters in Dhaka and other cities faced challenges getting to work.

The protesters attacked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, a major public hospital in Dhaka's Shahbagh area.

A policeman said "the whole city has turned into a battleground," adding a crowd of several thousand protesters torched cars and motorcycles outside the hospital.

While the army stepped in to help restore order in the wake of earlier protests, some former military officers have since joined the student movement, and ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan turned his Facebook profile picture red in a show of support.

Current army chief Waker-uz-Zaman spoke to officers at military headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday, telling them the "Bangladesh Army is the symbol of trust of the people."

"It always stood by the people and will do so for the sake of people and in any need of the state," he said.

His army statement did not explicitly say whether the army backed the protests.

Troops briefly restored order after last month's protests but crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this week in an all-out non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government.

On Saturday, when hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Dhaka, the police were largely bystanders.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE