Garment factories, banks and stock exchanges reopened as the Bangladesh government relaxed a curfew imposed to quell violent protests that left at least 150 people dead since last Tuesday.
Dhaka stocks fell as much as 1.5 percent in the morning trade after the country’s main bourse reopened at 11:00am today.
Broadband internet was restored to specific areas, including diplomatic and commercial zones after five days of outage.
Garment and textile factories started to reopen yesterday after a four-day pause in production. All factories in the garment manufacturing hubs were expected to reopen today.
As the day got off to a busy start, traffic congestion clogged Dhaka streets.
As student protests over the quota-based hiring system for government jobs turned violent, the government announced a curfew on Friday night and deployed armed forces across the country
According to The Daily Star’s count, at least 150 people have been killed and several thousand wounded in clashes with law enforcers, joined in by alleged ruling party activists since Tuesday.
The death toll may rise, as this newspaper could not contact many hospitals where dozens of critically injured were taken. Also, many families reportedly took the bodies of their loved-ones from the scene, and The Daily Star could not contact them. The Daily Star’s count is based solely on hospital and police sources.
The violence also saw dozens of public and private establishments vandalised, burned or both. Scores of vehicles were also attacked and burned. (Daily Star)
