The curfew comes amid a telecommunications blackout that has left the country of 170 million cut off from the world
\n Dhaka
\nBangladesh has announced the imposition of a curfew and the deployment of military forces after days of clashes at protests against government job quotas across the country.
\n\u201cThe government has decided to impose a curfew and deploy the military in aid of the civilian authorities,\u201d Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\u2019s press secretary Nayeemul Islam Khan, told the news agency AFP, adding that the curfew would take immediate effect.
\nPolice in the capital, Dhaka, earlier banned all public gatherings for the day \u2013 a first since protests began \u2013 to forestall more violence.
\nHowever, that did not stop another round of confrontations between police and protesters around the sprawling city of 20 million people despite an internet shutdown aimed at frustrating the organisation of rallies.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said the introduction of the curfew, which began at midnight (18:00 GMT on Friday) will only add to the public\u2019s confusion and a sense of unrest in the country.
\n\u201cPeople weren\u2019t able to go out the last two days because of the shutdown. Now you have a curfew, and the internet has been completely shut down since early yesterday [Thursday] evening,\u201d he said.
\nChowdhury said the government hopes to keep \u201cstudents and the public off the street\u201d with the curfew because it senses it is losing control of the protests.
\nHe added that the protesters appeared to be in \u201cno mood for compromise\u201d while the government is \u201cincreasingly losing control of the situation on the street despite using paramilitary forces and police\u201d.
\nThe student protests erupted after the High Court on June 5 ordered the reinstatement of a 30 percent reservation of government jobs for children of veterans who participated in the country\u2019s liberation movement in 1971.
\nViolent confrontations broke out on Monday after student protesters were attacked by activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\u2019s Awami League party.
\nOn Thursday, thousands of students clashed with armed police in Dhaka. At least 11 people were killed, including a bus driver and a student, police sources told Al Jazeera.
\nIt was not immediately clear if there were deaths at the protests on Friday. Bangladesh\u2019s Independent Television channel reported 17 more deaths on Friday. Somoy TV reported that 30 people were killed. Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify these numbers.
\nThe government has shut down all public and private universities and sent security forces onto campuses. It said it is willing to meet student leaders.
\nDemonstrators said they want accountability for the killings before they discuss a possible compromise with the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The curfew comes amid a telecommunications blackout that has left the country of 170 million cut off from the world Dhaka Bangladesh has announced the imposition of a curfew and the deployment of military forces after days of clashes at protests against government job quotas across the country. \u201cThe government has decided to impose a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n