By Francesca Hangeior.
Police in Bangladesh’s capital banned all public rallies on Friday after the deadliest day of ongoing student protests so far saw government buildings torched by demonstrators and the imposition of a nationwide internet blackout.
This week’s unrest has killed at least 39 people, including 32 on Thursday, with the toll expected to rise after reports of clashes in nearly half of the country’s 64 districts.
Students took to the streets again on Friday morning ahead of pro-government counter-demonstrations slated to begin after midday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation.
Dhaka’s police force took the drastic step of banning all public gatherings for the day a first since protests began — in an effort to forestall another day of violence.
“We’ve banned all rallies, processions and public gatherings in Dhaka today,” police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP, adding the move was necessary to ensure “public safety”.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP that officers had arrested Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, the joint secretary of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
“He faces hundreds of cases,” Hossain said, without giving further details on the reasons for Ahmed’s detention.
Police in the capital earlier said protesters had torched, vandalised and carried out “destructive activities” on numerous police and government offices.
Among them was the Dhaka headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which remains offline after hundreds of incensed students stormed the premises and set fire to a building.
“About 100 policemen were injured in the clashes yesterday,” Hossain told AFP. “Around 50 police booths were burnt”.
Police fire was the cause of at least two-thirds of deaths reported so far this week, based on descriptions given to AFP by hospital staff.
Busy streets around the capital were deserted at daybreak on Friday but showed signs of the previous night’s mayhem, with burnt vehicles and bricks thrown by protesters strewn across the roads.
Fresh confrontations broke out between police and protesters around Dhaka later in the morning.
Hundreds of students blockaded roads in the upscale commercial district of Banani, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw.