BANGLADESH :Over 100 people have been killed in the violence across Bangladesh as chaos reined supreme hours after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country on Monday, reports said on Tuesday amid signs of a return to normalcy.
The situation in Dhaka was largely calm on Tuesday morning after a day of unrest and a night of tension. Buses and other public transport were on the streets and traders were opening shops.
Government vehicles were heading to offices. Many battery-run rickshaws plied the roads, BDNews24.com newsportal said.
As the news of Hasina’s departure spread on Monday, hundreds of people broke into her residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests.
Hasina’s residence Sudha Sadan and other establishments were attacked, vandalised and set on fire in the capital.
The residences and business establishments of ministers, party MPs and leaders of Hasina’s Awami League government were also attacked in Dhaka and outside Dhaka.
According to local media reports, 119 people have been killed in the violence and attacks on Hindu temples and widespread looting in the capital and various other places.
At least 109 people were killed in clashes in different parts of the country, including Dhaka, at the last moment of the one-point demand of the anti-discrimination student movement on Monday, Bengali language daily Prothom Alo reported on Tuesday.
Earlier, the newspaper reported the death of 98 people till 12 pm on Sunday. Another 16 deaths were reported in the middle of the night.The total death toll stood at 114 on Sunday.
“With this, the total death toll stood at 440 in 21 days from July 16 to yesterday,”the paper said.
It said that 37 bodies were brought to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital between 11 am and 8 pm on Monday.
Citing hospital sources, it said 500 people were brought to the hospital with various injuries, including bullet injuries.
The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported that at least 18 people were killed in Savar and Dhamrai areas, on the outskirts of the capital, after clashes broke out between police and miscreants on Monday.
Ten people were killed in the capital’s Uttara on Monday after individuals in civilian clothes reportedly opened fire on protesters.Six people were killed in Habiganj, eight in Jessore, three in Khulna, three in Barisal, 11 in Lakshmipur, six in Kushtia, three in Satkhira and six in Sreepur of Gazipur, the paper said.
Late Monday night, President Mohammed Shahabuddin asked all the political parties to normalise the law and order situation in the country and directed the armed forces to take stern measures to protect the lives and properties of the people and state assets.
The educational institutions in the country were reopened on Tuesday following a long period of closure due to violence surrounding the student movement. However, the educational institutions in the national capital saw low attendance, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
“The institution is open, and some girls have come, but attendance is low. Attendance will increase in a couple of days,” Md Rahamot Ullah, principal of Kisholoy Girls’ School and College in the Mohammadpur area of the capital, was quoted as saying by the paper.
Trouble had been steadily escalating since the government’s announcement of the quota system in June this year.
The clashes between protesters demanding Hasina’s resignation and the ruling Awami League supporters in different parts of Bangladesh on Sunday erupted days after more than 200 people were killed in violent clashes between police and mostly student protesters.