Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hasina said those indulging in “sabotage” across the country in the name of protest are not students but terrorists and asked people to suppress them with a firm hand.

“I appeal to the countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a firm hand,” she said.

Hasina called a meeting of the National Committee on Security Affairs – the highest political authority on national security – at the Ganabhaban, the newspaper reported citing sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The meeting was attended by the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, RAB, BGB and other top security officials. The meeting came as renewed violence spread to several parts of the country.

The government has announced a three-day public holiday on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure public safety amid the ongoing violent protests across the country.

Giving details, the newspaper said eight people were killed in Feni, 22 including 13 policemen in Sirajganj, four in Kishoreganj, six in Dhaka, five in Bogura, three in Munshiganj, four in Magura, three in Bhola, four in Rangpur, three in Pabna , five in Sylhet, three in Cumilla, two in Sherpur and one in Joypurhat. One person was killed in Keraniganj, one in Savar and one in Barisal.

Six Awami League leaders and activists were beaten to death and several others injured in a clash between ruling party supporters and protesters in Narsingdi, the newspaper reported.

In the capital, protesters removed the bodies of four people from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The protesters went to the Central Shaheed Minar with the bodies of the four victims and chanted anti-government slogans, it said.

Citing Dhaka Medical College Hospital sources, the paper said 56 people were brought to the hospital with bullet injuries from Shahbagh, Shanir Akhra, Nayabazar, Dhanmondi, Science Laboratory, Paltan, Press Club and Munshiganj.

In a related development, a group of former senior military generals on Sunday asked the government to withdraw the armed forces from the streets and send them back to barracks.

“We urge the government to take political initiatives to resolve the ongoing crisis. Do not destroy the good standing of our armed forces by keeping them engaged in a shameful campaign,” said former army chief Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, who served as army chief under Prime Minister Hasina’s government.

Reading out a statement at a press conference here, he said: “The Bangladeshi armed forces have never faced the masses or trained their weapons on the chest of their citizens.”

Another former army chief, octogenarian General Nuruddin Khan, who also served as energy minister during Hasina’s previous tenure of 1996-2001, was among those who joined the briefing along with other officers, some of them veterans of the 1971 liberation war.

“The time is ripe to immediately take the soldiers to barracks to prepare for any eventuality, as the time it takes to transition from internal security mode to operational mode takes quite a long time,” the statement said.

Most shops and department stores in Dhaka were closed during the protest. Hundreds of students and professionals had gathered at Dhaka’s Shahbagh, blocking traffic on all sides.

Protesters had also gathered at the Science Lab junction in the capital on the first day of the non-cooperation movement. They chanted slogans against the government.

According to the Daily Star newspaper, several vehicles were burnt at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Sunday by unidentified people.

People carrying canes were seen vandalizing private cars, ambulances, motorcycles and buses on the hospital premises, sparking fear among patients, their attendants, doctors and staff, the newspaper said.

Nahid Islam, a coordinator of the anti-government protests, announced that they will stage a demonstration and mass sit-in on Monday to press their one-point demand.

On Monday, they will unveil Martyrs’ plaques across the country in memory of people recently killed who center the quota reform movement, he said in a statement.

There have been reports of vandalism and arson to police vehicles and government buildings in several places.

In Chattogram, residences of Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury were attacked, as well as the office of AL MP Md Mohiuddin Bachchu.

In apparent retaliation, the homes of several leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), including Standing Committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, were targeted.

The BNP and its allies, along with many political, professional and cultural groups, have thrown their support behind the student-led movement that had been launched to demand reforms to quotas reserved for government jobs.

Prime Minister Hasina offered to sit for talks on Saturday with the coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. However, the movement’s coordinator rejected the proposal.

The government leaders earlier claimed that the “peaceful campaign” was hijacked by the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and their student front Islami Chhatra Shibir was supported by ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP.