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DHAKA: Bangladesh’s military was deployed on the streets to enforce an indefinite nationwide curfew on Sunday as protesters clashed with authorities amid a fresh wave of demonstrations demanding the prime minister’s resignation, coming weeks after a deadly crackdown.

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters took to the streets of Dhaka on Saturday and Sunday as student leaders launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The new protests come after earlier demonstrations in July, which began with students demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs, turned violent.

These nationwide campus rallies were attacked by pro-government groups, leading to clashes with security forces, a week-long communications blackout, a curfew and more than 200 deaths.

After protesters returned to the streets in apparently the largest numbers ever recorded, Bangladesh’s home ministry said an indefinite nationwide curfew would begin at 6 p.m. Sunday, while internet services were again shut down.

More than 50 people were killed and dozens injured in the latest round of clashes, according to the country’s main Bengali-language newspaper, Prothom Alo, as police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the tens of thousands of protesters.

Students Against Discrimination, one of the main groups behind the initial protests, called on “students from all over the country to come to Dhaka” on Monday.

“The time has come to put the final stamp on this student-citizen uprising. Come to Dhaka to be part of history,” Asif Mahmud, the group’s coordinator, said in a statement issued after the curfew was announced.

“Students will create a new Bangladesh.”

While the Supreme Court has finally scrapped most of the quotas that allowed civil service positions to be opened to candidates based on merit, the government’s response to last month’s protests and the arrests of thousands of people have transformed the student-led protests into a public movement, with more groups joining in recent days, including teachers and television stars.

“The current situation can be described as a massive popular uprising. It enjoys the support of the entire nation, except for a few beneficiaries of the regime,” Salimullah Khan, a political analyst and professor at the Bangladesh University of Liberal Arts, told Arab News.

“The repressive measures are solely responsible for these massacres and crimes against humanity. The real conclusion is the immediate exit of the regime. Hesitation will only cost more lives.”

The protests have become a major challenge for Hasina, who returned to power for a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by her main opponents, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

“The BNP firmly supports the demands and commitments of the students and stands by them unwaveringly,” Mohammed Nawshad Zamir, BNP international secretary, told Arab News.

“We must therefore persist in our street protests until the illegitimate regime of Sheikh Hasina is overthrown and a national consensus government is established.”

Hasina’s ruling Awami League party said the student-led movement had been “politicised”.

Awami League MP Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told Arab News: “This is a plot to destroy the country. The current situation is proof of that.”

“Our law enforcement continues to show maximum tolerance towards the protesters. But they must understand that this does not mean we are weak.”

Yet efforts to suppress the civil movement in Bangladesh, which included “random and disproportionate use of force by law enforcement,” have reached a scale “never seen before,” said Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh.

“This is quite worrying. Unfortunately, we see that there is no way out of this situation and no light at the end of the tunnel because the use of force to manage the crisis continues,” he told Arab News.

“The authorities ignored the power of the student movement and on the other hand they considered themselves invincible… They failed to realize that the student movement is invincible at this point in Bangladesh’s history.”