Military announces curfew and mobile internet access cut off as fresh wave of demonstrations erupts across country

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured as renewed anti-government protests swept across Bangladesh, with protesters calling for the prime minister to resign as mobile internet access was cut off in an attempt to quell the unrest.

The country’s leading Bengali-language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, said at least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, had died on Sunday in the violence. Channel 24 reported at least 85 deaths.

Strength of PM’s crackdown shows her nervousness and that climate of fear is breaking down, say critics

Hasan still has the metal pellets Bangladesh police fired at him lodged deep in his bones. Fearful he will join the growing ranks of those thrown behind bars by the state for participating in protests that have swept Bangladesh this month, Hasan has been in hiding for a week and described his state as one of “constant panic and trauma”.

“Whenever I hear the sound of a car or a motorbike, I think it might be the police coming for me,” he said.

More than 150 reported dead and thousands injured as peaceful demonstrations turn violent

Student activists in Bangladesh have alleged they were abducted and tortured during a violent police crackdown on the protests that have swept the country and led to the arrest of thousands of political opponents and government critics.

Nahid Islam, a Dhaka University student and one of the main organisers of the protest movement, which has been fighting against “discriminatory” quotas for government jobs, said he was picked up by police late last week, tortured and left unconscious on the side of the road.

Court overturns ruling reserving 30% of government jobs for independence war veterans and their relatives

Bangladesh’s top court has scaled back the quotas on government jobs that led to widespread student-led protests and violent clashes that killed more than 100 people.

On Sunday afternoon the supreme court overturned a ruling that had reintroduced quotas for all civil service jobs, meaning that 30% were reserved for veterans and relatives of those who fought in the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971.

Army to be deployed to keep order after demonstrators free hundreds of prisoners and country is hit by serious unrest

The Bangladeshi government has declared a national curfew and announced plans to deploy the army to tackle the country’s worst unrest in a decade, after student protesters stormed a prison and freed hundreds of inmates.

“The government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the military in aid of the civilian authorities,” a government spokesperson said late on Friday.