Bangladesh soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of the capital Dhaka on Saturday and set up roadblocks during a curfew meant to quell deadly students-led protests against government job quotas that have killed at least 110 people this week.
Internet and text message services have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off from the rest of the world as police cracked down on protests that have continued despite a ban on public gatherings.
Overseas telephone calls mostly failed to connect while websites of Bangladesh-based media organisations did not update and their social media handles remained inactive.
“To take a country of nearly 170 million people off the Internet is a drastic step, one we haven’t seen the likes of since the Egyptian revolution of 2011,” said John Heidemann, chief scientist of the networking and cybersecurity division at USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute.
In addition to the deaths, the clashes have injured thousands, according to data from hospitals across Bangladesh. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital received 27 dead bodies between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. (1100-1200 GMT) on Friday.