High Security in Bangladesh as Protestors Storm BTV Station

News Today: High Security Alert Issued Amid Violent Clashes in Bangladesh

A High Security Alert has been issued for the whole of Bangladesh, as violent clashes between students and police continue. Dhaka faces an internet blackout, and phone lines are down.

On Thursday evening, several thousand protestors stormed the state broadcaster BTV, vandalizing furniture, smashing windows and lights, and setting parts of it on fire.

Bangladesh’s information minister told Legacy Daily that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital. A post on BTV’s official Facebook page earlier warned “many” were trapped inside the building, and appealed for help from the fire service to put out the blaze.

A senior BTV journalist, who didn’t want to be named, told Legacy Daily: “The situation was so bad we didn’t have any other option but to leave the place. Some of our colleagues were trapped inside. I don’t know what happened to them.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network on Wednesday night, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 19 people dead and hundreds injured.

Students are holding rallies demanding changes to a system that reserves a third of public sector jobs for the relatives of veterans of the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971. They argue the system is discriminatory, asking for recruitment based on merit.

The government has been trying to quell the protests, on Thursday switching off the country’s mobile internet. Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. A total of 32 people have died during the protests.

A reporter in Dhaka confirmed 19 deaths so far. Among the dead was a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.