Bangladesh state TV set ablaze in deadly protests

Protesters have set fire to the headquarters of the state broadcaster in Bangladesh as violent clashes between students and police continue, the authorities say.

A post on BTV’s official Facebook page warned “many” were trapped inside the building in Dhaka, as it appealed for help from the fire service to put the blaze out.

Bangladesh’s information minister told the BBC that broadcasts had been stopped and most employees had left the building in the capital.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had appeared on the network the night before, appealing for calm after days of violent protests which have left at least 17 people dead, possibly many more, and hundreds injured.

Students have been holding rallies demanding change 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.

The students are arguing that 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 in an attempt to slow the students.

Instead, it became the deadliest day so far, according to news agency AFP. According to its count citing hospitals, a total of 32 people have died during the protests – most of them on Thursday.

The BBC’s Bengali service has confirmed 17 deaths so far – among them, a 32-year-old journalist for the Dhaka Times.

Sheikh Hasina had condemned protesters’ deaths as “murder” in her Wednesday television appearance, but her words were largely dismissed by protest organizers.

Thursday saw tear gas and rubber bullets deployed by officers, as students created human blockades in the streets.

The students who stormed BTV had earlier “torched” a police station, according to an official at BTV.

“They chased the police officers when they took refuge at the BTV office,” the official told AFP. “Angry protesters then caused mayhem here.”

The Bangladeshi information minister Mohammad Ali Arafat told the BBC that the employees still inside the building were “feeling very unsafe”.

“They [protesters] went in and vandalized,” he said.

“Security forces are there fully but… they were present physically, they were not trying to put any counter-attack.

“But they’ll be doing it now, they will warn everyone and then they will go full on to clear it up.”