Bangladesh’s internet shutdown isolates citizens, disrupts business

DHAKA: Md. Rakibul Ahsan was finishing a logo he had designed for a foreign client as the deadline fast approached. Just before he could hit send, Bangladesh’s internet was shut down, stranding him and the rest of the country offline.

Student-led protests against quotas for highly sought-after government jobs led to violent clashes that killed at least 147 people in Bangladesh this month.

The government responded with a countrywide curfew, sending military troops to patrol empty roads, and a comprehensive internet outage on July 18 – a tactic it has employed previously at refugee camps and ahead of elections.