The Special Branch of Police has requested the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to take measures to close 16 Facebook accounts, pages and groups, including a popular group of quota reform activists, in the wake of student protests for safe roads.

An SB letter issued by its special police superintendent (media analysis) SM Ainul Bari on Sunday said that a group of people were using social media site Facebook to spread anti-government rumours and baseless information to incite student protests.

Such negative propaganda might hamper internal security of the country, deteriorate law and order situation, and create confusion among citizens, read the SB letter received by the BTRC on Monday.

Considering the situation, the SB asked the regulatory commission to take steps to close the Facebook accounts.

The first name in the list of Facebook accounts was quota reform activist Md Ratul Sarker and the second was Luma Sarkar.

The third and fourth ones were groups that were also linked with quota reform protests, namely ‘Quota Songskar chai (Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Odhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad)’ and ‘Chatro Andolan’.

The other names, groups and pages were: Shohel Rana Milki, Bithe Islam, Md Ibrahim Humayun, Sayed Sanny, Nurulhaq Nur, Wasim Iftekhar, Abdullah Al Mamun, Waki Abdullah, Radwan Hossain, Md Ataullah, Mohammad Arif Hasan and Projonmo Kantho.

Asked about the SB letter on seeking closure of 16 Facebook accounts, Ainul Bari told New Age that they were working on the issue.

BTRC officials, however, said that they usually made requests to Facebook for blocking or closure of accounts when any government agency requested them and the rest depended on Facebook officials.

In the wake of student protests, the country’s mobile internet connectivity was almost suspended for around 24 hours across the country from 7:30pm on Saturday to 7:30pm on Sunday with a view to contain student protests.

Students in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country took to the streets for the ninth consecutive day on Monday protesting against anarchy in the road transport sector and demanding justice for the deaths of two of their fellows, killed by a bus that, racing two others, ploughed through a crowd of students waiting for buses in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road on July 29.