Students sing the national anthem as they take part in a protest over recent traffic accidents that killed a boy and a girl, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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 licenses
Students 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.
A massive student protest in Bangladesh triggered by the death of two teenagers run down by a speeding bus in the capital has worried the government ahead of a general election and prompted a warning against opposition meddling.Traffic in heavily congested Dhaka has been paralysed and 317 vehicles set ablaze in protests that have injured at least 51 people since Sunday's incident, in which a privately run bus hit college students.Tens of thousands of uniformed school and college students have turned out, demanding a crackdown on buses, many without fitness certificates, that often engage in dangerous races in the streets."We have assured them that all their demands will be fulfilled and a law will be proposed in the next session of parliament," Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters. "But we fear the movement may turn violent as there is a conspiracy to...make the government inoperative. We'll take stern action against those conspiring to exploit this by inciting the minors."Law enforcement agencies had proof that activists of the student wing of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had been told to mix with protesters, Khan added, urging parents to steer children away from the protests.The BNP rejected the accusation of instigation."The government should resign immediately for failing to tackle road accidents and solve the crisis of mass commuting," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, its secretary general, told Reuters."This is a pretence to cover up its failure."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.Spontaneous student protests are rare in Bangladesh and the government should handle them carefully ahead of elections due by December, said Mahbubur Rahman, a political science professor at Dhaka's North South University."Their movement acted as a spark and within a short time it spread all over the country," Rahman said. "If the government fails to control and manage it, then it will be judged as a failure of the administration and government." 
Bangladesh student protest spurs warning against opposition meddling
Ahead of the Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) Muslim holiday later this month, Turkish NGOs are rolling up their sleeves to help the needy in countries worldwide.Leading Turkish aid agencies will help millions of underprivileged people in over 100 countries across the globe during the Islamic holy festival.The Turkish Red Crescent has distributed meat to millions for more than a decade, and this year will continue its aid to 1.5 million people in 40 countries, said the group’s head, Kerem Kinik.Turkish agency to send Eid meat to 3M people abroadThe Turkish Red Crescent is the largest humanitarian organization in Turkey, with an international network to help other nations in need.The non-profit and volunteer-based social service institution is providing unconditional aid and service, and is a corporate body governed by special legal provisions.Meanwhile, the Turkish Deniz Feneri Association hopes to help people in 40 countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Algeria, Chad, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Palestine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Yemen, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Macedonia.Turkish NGOs begin aid campaign for Rohingya MuslimsThe Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) will distribute meat to around 3 million needy people in 103 countries, according to its head, Yavuz Dede.The International Refugee Rights Association (UMHD) and Sadakatasi Foundation are both making efforts to reach out to hundreds of thousands of needy Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.Meat packages will be distributed to the Rohingya Muslims at camps in Cox's Bazar.The IHH will show the Eid al-Adha spirit of charity in a total of 103 countries, including Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Yemen, and Bangladesh, as well as Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the East Turkestan region.The IHH will prioritize refugee camps, areas struck by war or natural disaster, people suffering from chronic hunger and poverty, the elderly, widows, orphanages, schools, and hospitals.The Sadakatasi Foundation will distribute aid in a total of 30 countries.The Cansuyu Charity and Solidarity Organization will also help people in 28 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, while the Hayrat Humanitarian Aid Association will be active in 48 countries.
Turkey ready to help needy worldwide during Muslim eid
One of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's biggest critics is rallying opposition parties against his government after a new list of citizens excluded 4 million people from a border state in a drive against illegal immigrants.The draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the result of a years-long agitation by residents of the northeastern state of Assam demanding expulsion of the immigrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh just over the border.Work on it accelerated under the state and federal governments of Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the exclusions from the list released on Monday have given ammunition to opposition parties to band together against Modi's re-election bid next year.4 million people may lose Indian citizenshipIndia sparks fear by excluding 4 million Muslims from citizens' list in AssamMamata Banerjee, the firebrand chief minister of India's eastern state of West Bengal, accused the BJP of trying to make millions of people stateless for political reasons."This can't be tolerated and that's why India needs a change, and the change must come in 2019, for the betterment of the people of this country," Banerjee said at an event in New Delhi.Outside parliament, her regional All-India Trinamool Congress led a protest by lawmakers from seven political parties, who held placards demanding "Stop this divide and rule policy" and "Why have Indian citizens become refugees in their own country?"Assam has been racked by waves of violence over the years as residents, including tribal groups, have clashed with both Hindu and Muslim settlers, whom they accuse of plundering resources and taking away jobs.BJP President Amit Shah hit back at the opposition, saying his party was the only one that dared to take a firm stance against illegal immigration. He said migrants from Bangladesh had no place in India.Video: Muslims of India's Assam on the verge of becoming statelessIndia does not have a deportation pact with Bangladesh, however, and the government has said it would decide on the fate of those eventually deemed foreigners in consultation with the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the registration process.In Assam, many applicants queued for the second day at government booths to check their citizenship status, with some relieved at finding their names on the list while others who did not make it hung around, dejected.There have been no reports of violence and security remains tight.U.N. concernsA final list is expected in December, but rights activists fear it might strip citizenship from many, especially Muslims who have lived in the region for decades."Assam has long sought to preserve its ethnic identity, but rendering millions of people stateless is not the answer," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch."Indian authorities need to move swiftly to ensure the rights of Muslims and other vulnerable communities in Assam are protected from statelessness," she said in a statement.William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the agency was concerned about the registration process and monitoring it closely.The UNHCR also appealed to the Indian government not to deport those who fail to qualify for citizenship, even after claims and appeals are exhausted.Bangladesh has not had any communication from New Delhi on the issue, said Jyotirmay Dutta, a senior official of its interior ministry.
India excluding 4 mln Muslims from citizens' list unites Modi critics