Over 300 Indian students return home as 105 killed in Bangladesh unrest

These students crossed through border points in the northeast.

At least 105 people have died as students across Bangladesh have clashed with security forces and pro-government activists over the reintroduction of reservation in government jobs. 

The protests, which have been on for at least three weeks, escalated significantly on Monday when violence broke out at Dhaka University. Six people were killed the next day, prompting the government to order the closure of universities across the country.

Many of the students who returned were pursuing MBBS degrees and most of them were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir.

Two key routes used by the students to return on Friday were the international land port at Akhurah near Agartala in Tripura and the international land port at Dawki in Meghalaya.

The Bangladesh government has imposed a countrywide curfew and deployed troops as at least 32 deaths have been reported so far since Friday morning in violent protests and clashes over the government job quota system, media reports said.

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina decided to deploy the army on Friday night during a 14-party meeting at Ganobhaban. The curfew is in place till midnight.

Bangladesh's government has already shut down internet services across the country.

Television news channels in Bangladesh were off the air and telecommunications were widely disrupted as violent student protests against quotas for government jobs continued to rock the country.

Student protesters stormed a jail in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi and freed the facility’s inmates before setting it on fire.

Police struggled to quell unrest, with huge rallies in Dhaka despite a police ban on public gatherings.

On Thursday, a state broadcaster's building was put on blaze as relentless violence gripped the South Asian country following multiple clashes between the protesters, security officials and pro-government protesters.

Eyewitnesses told Prothom Alo that more than a hundred people entered BTV headquarters by breaking the main gate.

The protest began on July 1 after the High Court's reinstatement of the freedom fighters' quota.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already appealed to students to end the protest.

Law minister Anisul Huq said the government would sit with the demonstrators.

"I have told the attorney general to appeal to the court on Sunday for an early hearing in this regard," he was quoted as saying by Prothom Alo.