Thousands of Bangladeshi high school students have been protesting for a fifth day after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus. </s> DHAKA: Bangladesh shut down high schools across the country on Thursday as tens of thousands of students protested for a fifth straight day after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

Bangladesh’s transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated, and dangerous, and as news of the teenagers’ deaths spread rapidly on social media, they became a catalyst for a massive outpouring of anger.

Authorities have pleaded with students to call off the protests that have near-paralysed Dhaka and spread beyond the capital, with vehicles vandalised and clashes with police in some parts. The demonstrators, mostly students in their mid-teens, chanted "we want justice" on Thursday as they defied pouring rain to march in Dhaka for another day, bringing traffic to a standstill.

The education ministry shut down high schools on Thursday in an effort to quell unrest, promising students their demands for reforms to road safety would be considered. But anger has not subdued since a bus racing for passengers killed a boy and a girl on the roadside on Sunday, igniting the protests.

Protesters are blaming the government for failing to enforce traffic laws, and an insensitive comment by Shajahan Khan, a government minister with ties to powerful transport unions, triggered fresh outrage.

Khan questioned why there was such an uproar over the two Dhaka children but no reaction when 33 people were killed in an Indian bus crash the day before. There have been widespread social media demands for his resignation even though the minister later apologised. </s> DHAKA : Bangladesh shut down high schools across the country Thursday as tens of thousands of students protested for a fifth straight day after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

Bangladesh's transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated, and dangerous, and as news of the teenagers' deaths spread rapidly on social media, they became a catalyst for a massive outpouring of anger. Authorities have pleaded with students to call off the protests that have near-paralysed Dhaka and spread beyond the capital, with vehicles vandalised and clashes with police in some parts.

The demonstrators, mostly students in their mid-teens, chanted "we want justice" on Thursday as they defied pouring rain to march in Dhaka for another day, bringing traffic to a standstill.

The education ministry shut down high schools Thursday in an effort to quell unrest, promising students their demands for reforms to road safety would be considered.

But anger has not subdued since a bus racing for passengers killed a boy and a girl on the roadside on Sunday, igniting the protests.

Protesters are blaming the government for failing to enforce traffic laws, and an insensitive comment by Shajahan Khan, a government minister with ties to powerful transport unions, triggered fresh outrage.

Khan questioned why there was such an uproar over the two Dhaka children but no reaction when 33 people were killed in an Indian bus crash the day before.

There have been widespread social media demands for his resignation even though the minister later apologised.

Authorities say more than 300 vehicles have been vandalised since the protests started.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Wednesday promised that the government would launch a public transport safety campaign and urged the protesters to go home.

"People are suffering and we don't want this," he said.

According to the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways, a private research group, more than 4,200 pedestrians were killed in road accidents last year, a 25 percent increase from 2016. </s> Authorities urge students to call off protests demanding road safety reforms after two teenagers killed by speeding bus

Bangladesh shut down high schools across the country on Thursday as tens of thousands of students protested for a fifth straight day after two teenagers were killed by a speeding bus.

Authorities had pleaded with students to call off the protests that have near-paralyzed Dhaka and beyond and prompted foreign embassies to issue travel alerts. But thousands blocked major intersections in Dhaka as police armed with shields and batons drove back students in parts of the capital, with some reports of vehicles being vandalized.

The demonstrators, mostly students in their mid-teens, brought traffic to a standstill as they marched through the streets chanting “we want justice.”

Anger has not subdued since a bus racing for passengers killed a boy and girl on the roadside on Sunday, igniting the protests.

Bangladesh’s transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated and dangerous, and as news of the teenagers’ deaths spread rapidly on social media they became a catalyst for an outpouring of anger. An insensitive comment by Shajahan Khan, a government minister with ties to powerful transport unions, also triggered fresh outrage.

Khan questioned why there was such uproar over the two Dhaka children but no reaction when 33 people were killed in an Indian bus crash the day before.

There have been widespread social media demands for his resignation even though the minister later apologized.

The education ministry shut down high schools on Thursday in an effort to quell unrest, promising students their demands for reforms to road safety would be considered. “They should have taken our demands seriously, but they didn’t,” Imran Ahmed, a protesting student, said.

Dhaka suffers from daily gridlock but congestion has been exacerbated by blockades set up across the city since Sunday. In some parts of Dhaka, students occupying major intersections Thursday checked license plates and demanded to see driver identification and registration documents.

“We don’t want any vehicles without licenses on the streets. Those unfit to drive should not get licenses, and we don’t want underage motorists driving public transport,” said one protester, Mohammad Sifat.

The embassies of the U.S. and Australia warned of significant delays and disruptions as a result of the protests across Dhaka and elsewhere. Many residents were forced to walk across the congested capital to offices and workplaces. But some joined the students, frustrated at the government’s inability to tackle Dhaka’s notoriously dangerous roads.

“I support this movement, and sincerely hope it will shake out corruption in the system,” Yunus Ali, a businessman, told AFP at a busy demonstration.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Wednesday promised that the government would launch a public transport safety campaign and urged the protesters to go home. “People are suffering and we don’t want this,” he said.

According to the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways, a private research group, more than 4,200 pedestrians were killed in road accidents last year, a 25 percent increase from 2016. </s> Nationwide student protests enter fifth day, causing government to shut down thousands of high schools

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Tens of thousands of students, many of them teenagers, have brought areas of Bangladesh to a near-standstill during five days of protests following the deaths of two teenagers killed by a speeding bus.



Bangladeshi authorities have been forced to shut thousands of high schools across the country due to the demonstrations, which saw thousands of people, mostly students in their mid-teens, block major intersections in the capital of Dhaka as they marched through the streets chanting “we want justice” and checking people’s drivers’ licences.

Police armed with shields and batons have been called in to deal with the protesters, with some reports of vehicles being vandalised.

The dysfunctional megacity: why Dhaka is bursting at the sewers Read more

Bangladesh’s transport sector is widely seen as corrupt, unregulated and dangerous. News that a boy and girl were killed on the roadside on Sunday by a speeding bus spread rapidly on social media they became a catalyst for an outpouring of anger.

More than 4,200 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in Bangladesh in 2017, a 25% increase from 2016, according to private research group the National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways.

In some parts of Dhaka students occupying major intersections checked licence plates and demanded to see driver identification and registration documents.

“We don’t want any vehicles without licences on the streets. Those unfit to drive should not get licences, and we don’t want underage motorists driving public transport,” said one protester, Mohammad Sifat.

US and Australian embassies warned of significant delays as a result of the protests across Dhaka and elsewhere as many residents were forced to walk across the congested capital to offices and workplaces.

But some joined the students, frustrated at the government’s inability to tackle Dhaka’s notoriously dangerous roads.

“I support this movement and sincerely hope it will shake out corruption in the system,” Yunus Ali, a businessman, said at a busy demonstration.

Shajahan Khan, a government minister with ties to powerful transport unions, also triggered fresh outrage when he questioned why there was such an uproar over the two Dhaka children but no reaction when 33 people were killed in an Indian bus crash the day before.

There have been widespread social media demands for the resignation of Khan, who later apologised for his comments.

The home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Wednesday promised that the government would launch a public transport safety campaign and urged the protesters to go home. “People are suffering and we don’t want this,” he said. </s> Arson suspected in school bus fire that killed 13 in eastern China

Authorities in eastern China's Shandong Province said on Friday they suspect a fatal bus was started deliberately by the driver, Xinhua reported.

11 children, aged between three and six, and two adults were killed in the blaze inside the Taojiakuang Tunnel in Weihai on May 9.

Of the 11 children, five were South Korean nationals and six were Chinese. They were all students at an international kindergarten in Weihai, according to local officials.

Electrical fault and traffic accident were ruled out as the causes of the fire, police said.

Police said the driver's overtime pay and night shift allowance had been suspended, causing him to buy gasoline and start the fire in anger.

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China expresses condolences to S. Korea after deadly school bus accident

E. China school bus accident kills 5 Korean nationals, 7 Chinese </s> A truck loaded with sand has collided with a school bus, killing at least 24 young children in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

At least two dozen other children were injured early on Thursday when the speeding truck collided head-on with the bus, said Javeed Ahmed, the state's most senior police official.

The children, between the ages of three and 12, were studying at a school in the town of Etah.

Another police officer, Daljeet Chaudhry, said visibility was low due to dense fog.

Mr Ahmed said rescuers were working to free several children still trapped in the wreckage.

The state's education authorities had closed all schools in the district due to a severe cold snap.

Mr Ahmed said the authorities would check why the school had stayed open.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences, saying: "Anguished by tragic accident in UP's Etah. I share the pain of the bereaved families & condole (the) passing away of young children."

Accidents are common on Indian roads, with most blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and ageing vehicles. </s> Thousands of high school students, many still far from voting age, are streaming out of schools across the country today to protest against gun violence in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people.

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“I’m just mad there’s no action by our government representatives,” Daniel Rogov, a junior in Brooklyn, New York, said today.

“It’s all thoughts and prayers; it’s all talk,” he told ABC News. “After a gun violence tragedy there’s a speech talking about how we need change but there never is change.”

Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

Bernard Thomas/The Herald-Sun via AP

The event, which began at 10 a.m. across every time zone, was officially scheduled to last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. But many students are rallying for much longer.

To the students at Stoneman Douglas, Daniel's message is, “Keep making your voices heard. While the politicians might stop talking about this, we’re not done.”

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Segar/Reuters

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Over 3,000 walkout events were registered to take part in today's call on Congress to pass tighter gun control laws, according to ENOUGH National School Walkout, the event organizers.

The walkouts are across the nation, from Michigan to Maryland, from Colorado to California, and from the White House to Washington state.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo joins students protesting for stricter gun laws in New York City as part of #NationalWalkoutDay. https://t.co/JuOWURifIL pic.twitter.com/4pcTTVA1zW — ABC News (@ABC) March 14, 2018

The youngest kids I’ve seen so far. 11,12, & 13 year old students from Takoma Park Middle school pic.twitter.com/EBUvLZwv5p — Abby Cruz (@Abbbbeeeyyy) March 14, 2018

"Remember why we are walking out," Stoneman Douglas survivor Lauren Hogg wrote on Twitter today. "We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop."

Remember why we are walking out. We are walking out for my friends that passed, all children that have been taken because of gun violence. We are walking out for the empty desks in my classes, and the unsaid goodbyes. This epidemic of School shootings must stop. #Enoughwalkout — Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) March 14, 2018

In Washington, D.C., a huge crowd of chanting students gathered in front of the White House. Once the clock struck 10 a.m., the students silently sat down with their backs to the White House.

Even though most teenagers can’t vote, “we just want the White House to hear us,” Abby Silverman of Bethesda, Maryland, told ABC News outside the White House.

Kevin Butler told ABC News he came to the White House to “make sure there are stricter gun laws,” and even though the president wasn’t there during the sit-in, Kevin thinks their voices will be heard.

ABC News

Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX/Shutterstock

From the White House, the students marched to a rally at Capitol Hill.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

At one Evanston, Illinois, school, about 3,000 of the 3,500 students walked out, the school said.

“We should come to school and be protected, not where we have to come to school and fear for our lives,” Evanston student Alexis Harris Dyer told ABC News "We are all gathered together to show that we care, to show that we have voices. We are young people and we are passionate about what we have to say.”

At the massive walkout was a massive call-in, as students flooded lawmaker's offices all at once with calls for gun reform.

“I’m a high school constituent of [Gov.] Bruce Rauner," one teen said on the phone. "I’m calling to request that you take action to reform our nations gun laws.”

“Often our words are ignored," Dyer said, "So I think this is a way where we can actually be taken seriously.”

Student Emma Stein added, “I hope to inspire the next generation of voters and get young people engaged in the political process and to hold their representatives accountable. ... As long as there’s a threat of mass shootings in schools, I think students will remain very dedicated to the issue.”

Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

At a rally in Denver, high schooler Jlynn Terroade said, "It's really important for students to exercise their rights and be activists for what they believe in. That's what today was all about."

"Our Second Amendment seems to seem to care about guns more than students," Terroade told ABC News. "We have to empower ourselves."

Another Colorado student, Adriana Strode, added, "You don't want your brother, sister, your daughter to be the next victims of a mass shooting. ... We're here to open people's eyes so they can see this is a big issue."

Students are holding up the names and pictures of those who died in the Parkland, Fla shootings. #walkoutbayarea pic.twitter.com/VDsQGNL7ad — Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) March 14, 2018

Women’s March Youth Coordinator Tabitha St. Bernard Jacobs, one of the few adult allies guiding the students in the youth-led movement, told ABC News before the event that while the walkout was sparked by the Florida school shooting, the event is about pressuring Congress to act against gun violence overall.

She said the walkout was a way to shed light on the kind of gun violence that exists not just in schools but every day, like shootings that affect communities of color or devastate cities like Chicago.

How participants spent those 17 minutes of the walkout was up to them, St. Bernard Jacobs said. Some people were doing a lie-in, while others held rallies, she said.

Thousands of miles away from Parkland, Florida, at a Southern California school, students placed 17 empty desks in the quad, each with a flower and a picture for the 17 shooting victims.

At one Michigan high school, the names of all school-shooting victims were read as students walked out in silence, according to the school.

Students at Crestwood HS honored the victims of mass shootings in schools today. #enough pic.twitter.com/850vALBt3w — Crestwood Activities (@CrestwoodActivi) March 14, 2018

Enough is enough. Students walk out at Las Lomas high school Walnut Creek #abc7news pic.twitter.com/1cbAolSmG1 — Leslie Brinkley (@lrbrinkley) March 14, 2018

Students from around the world were also eager to participate.

Students at the Zurich International School in Switzerland took part, gathering outside in the shape of a peace sign. Students snapped this photo via a drone.

Courtesy Zurich International School

"I'm really proud of our two students who organized the event and took the photos," Upper School Principal John Switzer said via email.

Izzy Harris, a student at the American School in London, said students at her school, including herself, walked out "to demonstrate that the U.S. government needs to make changes to their gun laws."

"Although we are not directly affected in the U.K., a number of us are American and have many connections to the U.S.," she told ABC News via video.

Matt Dunham/AP

While many school districts were supportive of the protests, some schools had threatened to discipline students participating in walkouts.

At the high school on a South Korean base where U.S. military forces are stationed, officials warned students not to walk out, saying policy prohibits protests on U.S. military installations.

"Seoul American High School will maintain a roster of any students who walks out of class and will provide that list to the Yongsan Garrison Command Team to determine if any further steps are warranted," Principal Donald Toy Williams Jr. wrote in a memo to parents and sponsors posted on the school's Facebook page today. "We would also like to note that any student who leaves campus during the walkout time will be dealt with by the military police who will take their name, information, and then escort them back into school control immediately."

In Plainfield, Illinois, where some students had planned to walk out, doing so came with a guideline.

Students who wanted to participate in the walkout also had to attend an after-school discussion with state legislators to discuss issues that relate to school violence, like the political process, school safety, gun control and what influences politicians, Plainfield School District Superintendent Lane Abrell told ABC News.

A student who walked out but did not attend the discussion with state legislators would get a one-hour detention, Abrell said.

Abrell said the walkout "in my opinion ... doesn't really solve the issue," and the meeting with local legislators is a way for students who genuinely are passionate about the cause to learn how school violence issues can be solved.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said schools could punish students for missing class for walkouts, but the punishment should only be because students missed school and not as a harsher punishment because the students participated in a protest.

Dozens of colleges and universities had said they won't penalize applicants who are peaceful student protesters.

ABC News' Ali Rogin, Connor Burton, Elizabeth Mclaughlin, Katherine Carroll, Frank Elaridi, Rachel Katz, Doug Lantz, Andy Fies, Dennis Powell, Fergal Gallagher, Armando Garcia, Evan McMurry and Samantha Reilly contributed to this report. </s> Students demanding tougher gun laws walked out of classes across the United States on Friday, the 19th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School which left 13 people dead.

As thousands of teenagers held rallies from coast to coast, a shooting at a high school in Ocala, Florida, left one student wounded.

The Ocala Star Banner newspaper said a 19-year-old former student at Forest High School fired a blast from a shotgun into a locked classroom door, wounding a 17-year-old student in the ankle.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office said the suspect, who was not identified, was quickly arrested.

Around the country, students marked the anniversary of the April 20, 1999 shooting at Columbine in Colorado, a massacre seen as the harbinger of an era of school violence.

"I feel like things have gotten worse these last few years," said Emma Corcoran, a 15-year-old from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland, at a rally in Washington. "Change needs to happen."

The protests have been galvanized by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 14 teens and three adult staff members were shot dead on February 14 by a troubled former classmate armed with an AR-15-style automatic weapon.

The Parkland students have spearheaded a grassroots campaign for gun control which included another school walkout on March 14 and nationwide rallies by hundreds of thousands of Americans on March 24.

"So proud of the #NationalSchoolWalkout and all of the students around the country who are standing up for positive change and demanding what we deserve," tweeted Cameron Kasky, a Parkland student leader.
Nationwide student protests following the deaths of two teenagers killed by a speeding bus enter their fifth day, causing the government to shut down thousands of high schools.