Students shout slogan during a rally as they join in a protest over recent traffic accidents that killed a boy and a girl, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's cabinet on Monday will consider capital punishment for traffic accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as thousands of students held protests for a ninth day over the deaths of two teenagers by a speeding bus in Dhaka.
Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding changes to Bangladesh's transport laws, paralysing the crowded capital of 18 million, after the two teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran over a group of students on July 29.
"In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of punishment if it is killing by an accident," said the law ministry official, who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a decision.
Bangladesh police on Sunday launched a crackdown on dangerous driving as the government tries to quell student unrest sparked by the death of two teenagers who were mowed down by a speeding bus a week ago.Tens of thousands of students have protested since last Sunday when a privately run bus hit and killed the college students, alarming the government ahead of a general election this year. "Our police force has started a week-long drive to bring discipline on the roads," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at an event in Dhaka on Sunday.Spontaneous student protests are rare in Bangladesh and Hasina suggested her political rivals were using the issue to stir up anti-government sentiment.The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party denied any involvement in the protests. Separately, the U.S. embassy said in a statement outgoing envoy Marcia Bernicat's vehicle was attacked by armed men, some on motorcycles, in Dhaka on Saturday."The ambassador and her security team departed the area unharmed ... however, two security vehicles sustained some damage," it said in the statement issued on Sunday. Police said they had not identified the attackers.The protests spreading across Bangladesh have highlighted traffic risks in the densely populated country, where more than 4,000 people die in road accidents each year, one of the world's highest rates, the World Bank says.Bangladesh student protest spurs warning against opposition meddlingStudent road safety protests engulf capital: Bangladesh
Bangladesh cracks down on dangerous driving after protests
The current punishment is a maximum jail term of three years. Using the death penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged from 14 years in the U.K. in extreme cases to two years in India.
Sheikh Shafi, a student of a polytechnic institute in Dhaka who lost his brother in a road accident in 2015, said one of the problems was that bus drivers are not paid fixed monthly salaries instead only earn commissions based on the number of passengers, forcing them to work long hours.
"Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated," said Shafi, who was injured while protesting on Saturday.
Dozens of students were attacked during a road safety protest in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday, according to a local media report.The Daily Star newspaper reported that the students came under attack in Dhaka’s Jhigatola neighborhood while demonstrating for road safety after two students were killed last Sunday by a bus that was allegedly speeding.The protest began with a small group of students in Dhaka and then spread across the country.A group of pro-government students attacked the student protestors with sticks, rods, stones, and pistols, said the report.The report claimed that at least 150 people -- including students, pedestrians, journalists and ruling party activists -- were wounded in the unrest.Though official statements on the situation have been lacking, the interior minister said Saturday the situation would be under control within one or two days.Demanding licensesStudents in school uniforms were seen stopping drivers and asking for their driver’s licenses, and blocking those who could not show one. Some police officers and drivers for government officials were also unable to show licenses.The government called on the students to return to class, but the students refused, demanding a safe transportation system and tighter licensing.They also accused Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, who is also executive president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, of being responsible for rising traffic accidents.Khan, a supporter of bus drivers, has reportedly blocked regulations requiring drivers to have legal license.Students have reportedly vandalized some busses, leading bus owners to halt service, leaving commuters without transportation.The government has deployed several hundred members of the paramilitary Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) to Jigatola to get the situation under control.Bangladesh student protest spurs warning against opposition meddlingTurkey ready to help needy worldwide during Muslim eidIndia excluding 4 mln Muslims from citizens' list unites Modi critics
Student road safety protests engulf capital: Bangladesh
Amid the ongoing protests, an official vehicle carrying the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh was attacked by a group of armed men on Sunday, some on motorcycles, the embassy said in a statement. There were no injuries but two vehicles were damaged.
The embassy has condemned the "brutal attacks and violence" against the students protesters by security forces, a charge the government denies.
Police said they did not have an immediate explanation as to why the U.S. ambassador came under attack.