Photos: Curfew mostly empties Dhaka’s streets following days of violence

The streets of Dhaka bore a deserted look Monday and through the weekend, except for patrolling security forces after the Bangladesh government last week imposed a nationwide curfew following deadly street clashes.

The order restricts people to their homes for all but two hours each day when they are allowed to go out. During that break, people could be seen lining up at grocery and other stores, or to pay bills. 

Police and security force members were out in large numbers on the streets as well as surveying the situation from the air. 

After days of violent clashes that claimed the lives of at least 138 people, the nation’s Supreme Court slashed a quota system that initially began the student agitation.

On Sunday, the court determined 93% of civil service jobs be awarded based on merit, 5% be allocated to relatives of those who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 197, 1% to minority ethnic groups and 1% to individuals with disabilities and transgender people.

Previously 56% of government jobs were set aside under the quota system, including 30% for relatives of veterans of the 1971 war, and 10% for women.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.