Bangladesh ordered schools around the country to close indefinitely on Tuesday after six students were killed in violent protests that prompted the mobilisation of paramilitaries to keep order.
Every high school, Islamic seminary and vocational education institute around the country was told to remain shut until further notice following weeks of escalating demonstrations against civil service hiring policies.
Tuesday saw a significant escalation in violence as demonstrators and pro-government student groups attacked each other with hurled bricks and bamboo rods, and police dispersed rallies with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Education ministry spokesman M. A. Khair told AFP the shutdown order was issued in consideration of “the security of the students”.
The order does not include Bangladesh’s universities, where most students participating in the protests are enrolled, as the education ministry ordinarily does not have the authority to demand their closure.
At least six people were killed on Tuesday as demonstrators mobilised for another day in cities around the country, defying earlier calls by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the supreme court to return to class.
Three died in Chittagong and had signs of “bullet injuries”, hospital director Mohammad Taslim Uddin told AFP, adding that another 35 had been injured during clashes in the port city.
Another two died in Dhaka, where rival student groups threw bricks at each other and blocked roads in several key locations that ground traffic to a halt in the megacity of 20 million. Police inspector Bacchu Mia confirmed the deaths to AFP, saying one had succumbed to head injuries, while at least 60 people were also injured. In the northern city of Rangpur, police commissioner Mohammad Moniruzzaman told AFP that a student had been also killed in clashes there.
