Bangladesh student protests: PM cancels foreign travel amid unrest

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cancelled plans to leave the country on Sunday for diplomatic visits to Spain and Brazil, her press secretary told AFP.

"She has cancelled her Spain and Brazil tours due to the prevailing situation, Nayeemul Islam Khan told AFP on Saturday.

Student protests erupted in Bangladesh against preferential hiring rules for government jobs. These jobs have quotas that prioritise women, residents of less developed districts and other disadvantaged cohorts, thus giving merit a back-seat.

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On Saturday, Bangladeshi police fired live rounds at protesters in the capital Dhaka, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.

At least one person was wounded among thousands present in the residential neighbourhood of Rampura for the demonstration, held in defiance of a government curfew.

On Friday, telecommunication lines were disrupted and a "nation-scale" internet shutdown continued to be enforced, according to global web monitor NetBlocks. Protesters also set fire to government buildings.

Bangladeshi expats in the UAE told Khaleej Times that they were growing anxious as violent clashes between protesters and police raged back home, with no way to contact their families.

Protests began on July 1 with university pupils blocking major roads and railway lines in big cities around the country to draw attention to their demands.

Violence escalated on Thursday, the deadliest day of the protests so far, with 32 people killed. This week's violence has killed at least 105 people so far, according to an AFP count of victims reported by hospitals.

• Death toll in Bangladesh unrest rises to 50