Iran Press/ Asia: A curfew has been imposed and soldiers are patrolling cities across the South Asian country, while a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has drastically restricted the flow of information to the outside world.
Bangladesh’s top court on Sunday pared back the hiring quotas for specific groups for government jobs, which are seen as secure and sought-after.
As of Sunday, the death toll stood at 138 and protest leaders were demanding that the government take responsibility for them.
That demand came hours after the Supreme Court's Appellate Division scrapped the High Court verdict, which had reinstated a system that reserved some 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans of the country's 1971 war for independence against Pakistan.
Diplomats in Dhaka questioned Bangladeshi authorities’ deadly response to the protests following a presentation by the foreign minister that blamed demonstrators for the violence, diplomatic officials said.
Over 70 percent of the deaths have occurred in the capital, where most streets are littered with the remnants of thousands of rounds of teargas shells, sound grenades, shotgun pellets, rubber bullets, and brick chunks. Aside from two policemen and two ruling party activists, all of the deceased are either students or members of the general public.
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