The office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced on Friday the imposition of a nationwide curfew and the deployment of army troops to maintain security following days of deadly student protests. Spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office, Naim Islam Khan, told AFP that "the government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the army to assist civil authorities." The unrest this week has resulted in the death of 105 people, according to hospital data, and student demonstrations have posed an unprecedented threat to Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule.
### Jail Break
On Friday, protesters stormed a prison in the Narsingdi area of central Bangladesh and released "hundreds" of detainees before setting fire to the building, a police officer reported to AFP. The officer, who requested anonymity, said, "The prisoners escaped from the jail, and the protesters set it on fire," adding, "I do not know the number of detainees, but they are in the hundreds." A senior government official in the area, Mushomi Sarkar, confirmed to AFP the storming of the prison but did not provide further details. A local resident said he saw at least 20 men leaving the prison carrying their belongings in bags.
Since July 1, Bangladesh has witnessed student protests demanding reforms in the public sector employment system amid a severe unemployment crisis among graduates in the country of 170 million people. Students are urging the government to abandon the quota system in public sector jobs and implement a merit-based system. They believe the current system is designed to favor the children of supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled the country since 2009. The protests have seen violent clashes between students on one side and police and counter-protesters on the other, resulting in at least 50 deaths since Tuesday, according to AFP reports. Media sources stated that at least three people died in Bangladesh on Friday during renewed protests against the quota system in government jobs, while communication lines were widely disrupted, and television news channels went off air.
