Bangladesh unrest escalates: Protesters set jail on fire, free ‘hundreds’ of prisoners | Read

Dhaka: In a dramatic escalation of the student protests rocking Bangladesh, demonstrators stormed a jail in the central district of Narsingdi on Friday, freeing hundreds of inmates before setting the facility on fire.
According to a police officer, who spoke to AFP on the condition of anonymity, “The inmates fled the jail and the protesters set the jail on fire.” The officer estimated the number of escaped inmates to be in the hundreds.
Ripon, a local resident, witnessed at least 20 men leaving the jail with their belongings in handbags.
The jailbreak occurred amid a violent crackdown on student protests that have swept across Bangladesh, resulting in at least 50 deaths this week. The protests, initially sparked by anger over government job quotas, have grown into a broader movement against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with some analysts suggesting that the violence is now also being driven by wider economic woes, such as high inflation, growing unemployment and shrinking reserves of foreign exchange.