Eight killed in Bangladesh anti-government protests

Clashes between Bangladeshi protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign and pro-government supporters killed at least eight people on Sunday, including with knife cuts and bullet wounds, police and doctors said.

Three were killed in the northern district of Pabna, two in the northern district of Rangpur, two in the capital Dhaka’s Munshiganj district and one in the western district of Magura, police officers and doctors at hospitals.

The ban on social media

The country also imposes a ban on social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

The move was announced on Friday, August 2, and has effectively restricted access to these social networks across Bangladesh.

Global Eyes News had earlier reported the ban through its official X account, confirming that from Friday onward, access to these social media networks would be limited across Bangladesh.

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The latest ban comes on the back of a previous suspension of Meta’s platforms Instagram and Facebook in July. The earlier ban was in response to widespread unrest witnessed in the country over quota reforms.

It was gathered that access to Meta’s platforms was cut off via mobile networks around 12:15 PM on August 2. Unlike the previous comprehensive shutdown, the current restrictions are reportedly targeting mobile data connections.

It was reported that the country’s internet speed had returned to normal levels on August 1. However, with millions of mobile network users affected by the Facebook restriction, there is an expected increase in the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which could potentially slow down overall internet speeds.

This ban is part of a series of internet restrictions imposed in July. Mobile internet was first disabled on July 17, followed by a broadband shutdown on July 18. While broadband services were partially restored on July 23, mobile networks remained offline until July 28.