At least 40 people have died in 48 hours, including 32 on Thursday alone, in Bangladesh, as deadly clashes broke out between students and police in several cities across the country.

The private television network Independent Television reported today that 702 people were injured, among them at least 104 police officers and 30 journalists.

Demonstrators set fire to public buildings in the capital Dhaka, while the country experienced an “almost complete” blackout of internet access.

“Thugs set fire, vandalized and destroyed” the facilities of the public television BTV, the headquarters of the national disaster management service, police and public administration buildings, the statement emphasized.

“So far, we have shown maximum restraint,” the police emphasized, declaring that if such destructive actions continue, they will be “obliged” to take the “maximum” measures provided for by law.

The students have been on the streets for almost a month, protesting the privileged recruitments in the State.

Protesters are demanding an end to a quota system in public sector recruitment that they say benefits descendants of members of organizations that support Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, in power in Bangladesh since 2009.

The protesting students want this preferential treatment to be abolished, except in the cases of indigenous people and the disabled. They believe that this system favors the government’s client relations with a large part of the voters.

The protests this week have turned extremely violent with clashes between thousands of students and anti-quota protesters on one side and student youth members of Hasina’s ruling Awami League party.