Protesters attack Bangladeshi state broadcaster after PM’s call for calm
Incensed crowd facing riot police set BTV building on fire as students demand end to discriminatory job quotas
Bangladeshi students have set fire to the state broadcaster’s building a day after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, appeared on the network seeking to calm escalating clashes that had killed at least 39 people.
Hundreds of protesters demanding reform of civil service hiring rules clashed with riot police who had shot at them with rubber bullets on Thursday, chasing the retreating officers to BTV’s headquarters in the capital, Dhaka.
The incensed crowd then set ablaze the network’s reception building and dozens of vehicles parked outside, a BTV official told AFP.
