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The Bangladeshi government has deployed the army against student protesters, imposed shoot-on-sight curfew orders, and shut down mobile data and internet services, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.

In a statement published on its website, HRW said that these actions followed violent protests against excesses by security forces to quell a peaceful student protest campaign.

With more than 160 people killed, foreign governments should immediately call on the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her administration to end the use of excessive force against protesters and hold troops to account for human rights abuses.

‘Bangladesh has been troubled for a long time due to unfettered security force abuses against anyone who opposes the current government, and we are witnessing that same playbook again, this time attacking unarmed student protesters,’ said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at HRW.

‘Now is the time for influential governments to press Hasina to stop her forces from brutalizing students and other protesters,’ she said.

‘I have never seen such cruelty,’ a Dhaka resident who recently left the country told HRW, adding that security forces just kept on shooting and shooting at such young people.

‘They even shot at bystanders if they tried to help protect the students,’ the individual told HRW, said the statement.

It mentioned that several journalists were injured when assaulted by security forces and Chhatra League supporters. The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, called for restraint and said the ‘attacks on student protesters are particularly shocking and unacceptable.’

Prime Minister Hasina, who won a fourth consecutive term after January elections that allegedly were not free or fair, had previously imposed and then withdrawn the quota, it said, adding that she has called for dialogue and promised an inquiry into the July 15 deaths.

On July 21, the Supreme Court, hearing an appeal from the government, ruled to reduce the quota in government jobs, allocating 5 per cent for descendants of independence war veterans and 2 per cent for other categories.

However, students said that Sheikh Hasina has lost their trust following a statement that denounced the protesters as political traitors. The students responded by calling her an ‘autocrat.’

On June 18th, Bangladeshi authorities imposed a nationwide internet shutdown, critically limiting communications, access to information, and ability to share reports of human rights abuses.

The statement said that the UN Human Rights Council had said in a 2016 consensus resolution that shutting internet services to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or dissemination of information online violates international human rights law, and that all countries should refrain from and cease such measures.

Bangladeshi authorities repeatedly deny that Bangladeshi security forces have committed serious human rights violations including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances, leading to a climate of impunity, HRW said.

Other governments, including the United Kingdom and the European Union, should place Bangladeshi security forces under increased scrutiny following the designation of human rights sanctions by the US government, it said.

‘Bangladeshi authorities have flouted international standards in the past and continue to do so during the ongoing protests,’ Ganguly said.

‘The government should take immediate steps to end the crisis, rein in and punish security forces and her party supporters who have committed serious crimes, and protect the rights of protesting students,’ she said.