Bangladeshi students hit by rubber bullets

BANGLADESH’S prime minister urged protesting students to remain at home yesterday as police fired tear gas at teenage demonstrators during an eighth day of unprecedented marches over road safety.

Tens of thousands of have brought parts of Dhaka to a standstill since Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, two teenagers, were killed by a speeding bus. The unrest has quickly spread beyond the capital.

Authorities have shut down mobile internet services across swathes of the country, officials and local media said.

On Saturday, the protests took a violent turn in Dhaka’s Jigatala neighbourhood, with more than 100 people injured as police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators.

The violence continued yesterday with police firing tear gas into a large crowd marching toward an office of the ruling Awami League party, an AFP correspondent said.

Dozens of protesters were attacked by people alleged to be ruling party activists, some armed with machetes, in the Dhanmondi neighbourhood.

Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, warned yesterday that a “third party” could sabotage the protests and put the safety of demonstrators at risk.

“That’s why I request all guardians and parents to keep their children at home. Whatever they have done is enough,” she said from her office.

She also pledged to bring order to the roads, saying: “Our police force has started a week-long drive to bring discipline on the roads.”

Her warning came as protesters marched towards the scene of Saturday’s clashes, chanting: “We want justice!” Police denied they fired rubber bullets or tear gas at the protesters.

However, hospital staff said dozens of people had been injured, some seriously, and injuries were consistent with rubber bullets.

The Awami League has denied that its officials were violent to the students.