Streets in the capital Dhaka were almost deserted at daybreak, with troops on foot and in armoured personnel carriers patrolling the sprawling megacity of 20 million.
But thousands returned to the streets later in the day in the residential neighbourhood of Rampura, with police firing at the crowd and wounding at least one person.
“Our backs are to the wall,” protester Nazrul Islam, 52, told AFP at the scene. “There’s anarchy going on in the country … They are shooting at people like birds”.
Hospitals have reported a growing number of gunshot deaths to AFP since Thursday.
“Hundreds of thousands of people” had battled police across the capital on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP.
“At least 150 police officers were admitted to hospital. Another 150 were given first aid treatment,” he said, adding that two officers had been beaten to death.
“The protesters torched many police booths … Many government offices were torched and vandalised”.
Staff at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital told AFP that two more police officers and nine others were killed on Saturday, while four people admitted to intensive care succumbed to their injuries.
#Bangladesh #army #force #police #fire #demonstrators
