BANGLADESH: "Police imposed a strict curfew with a “shoot-on-sight” order across Bangladesh as military forces patrolled parts of the capital Saturday after scores were killed and hundreds injured in clashes over the allocation of civil service jobs. The curfew began at midnight and was relaxed from noon to 2 p.m. for people to run essential errands, and is expected to last until 10 a.m. Sunday, allowing officers to fire on mobs in extreme cases, said lawmaker Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party. The demonstrations, called for mainly by student groups, started weeks ago to protest a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. Violence erupted Tuesday, with the Daily Prothom Alo newspaper reporting the deaths of at least 103 people.

Officials said the curfew was to quell further violence after police and protesters clashed in the streets and at university campuses in Dhaka and other cities across the South Asian country. Authorities blocked online communications by banning mobile and internet services. Several TV news channels went off the air, and the websites of most local newspapers were down. Meanwhile, some key government websites, including Bangladesh’s central bank and the prime minister’s office, appeared to have been hacked and defaced.

Local media also reported that some 800 inmates fled a prison in Narsingdi, a district north of the capital, after protesters stormed the facility and set it on fire Friday."

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-07-20/bangladesh-imposes-strict-curfew-with-a-shoot-on-sight-order-following-deadly-protests