Police in Bangladesh fired live rounds at protesters in the capital Dhaka on Saturday, an Agence France-Presse journalist at the scene reported, and the army was out in force in cities across the country after a new day of bloody confrontations.
Violence this week as part of student movements and demonstrations has left at least 115 people dead, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on hospital and police sources.
The demonstrations pose a serious challenge to the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been in power for 15 years, and have forced her to cancel trips abroad.
At least one person was injured when thousands of protesters gathered in the residential area of Rambora on Saturday, defying a government curfew that went into effect at midnight on Friday, an AFP correspondent said.
The army was out in force in Bangladeshi cities on Saturday at the request of Sheikh Hasina after police failed to control the unrest.
Army spokesman Shahadat Hussein told AFP: "The army has been deployed across the country to control disturbances affecting law and order.
The private Channel 24 reported that the curfew would remain in place until at least 10:00 am (04:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Police spokesman Farooq Hussein told AFP that "hundreds of thousands" of protesters faced off with police in the capital Dhaka on Friday.
He confirmed that "at least 150 policemen were taken to hospital and 150 others received first aid," adding that two policemen were beaten to death.
Farouk Hussein reported that "protesters set fire to several police booths" and "several government offices were burned and vandalized.
The almost daily demonstrations, which began in early July, are aimed at ending the quota system in the public sector, which reserves more than half of jobs for certain groups, particularly the children of veterans of the 1971 war of liberation against Pakistan.
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