Dear fellow Wikimedians, Following the violent and deadly repression of student protesters in Bangladesh <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Bangladesh_quota_reform_movement> that has claimed the lives of about 150 people, the Bangladeshi government has shut down the Internet throughout the country. The Internet shutdown began on the 18th of July and remains in place to this day <https://mastodon.social/@netblocks/112830348166788483>. This has affected access to Wikipedia and other sources of free knowledge. Traffic to the Bangla Wikipedia has dropped to less than half the usual rate <https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/bn.wikipedia.org/reading/total-page-views/normal|bar|2024-06-20~2024-07-22|agent~user|daily> . Several organizations of the #KeepItOn coalition (which includes the Wikimedia Foundation) have signed an appeal <https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/keepiton-restore-internet-during-student-protests-bangladesh/> to the Bangladeshi authorities to restore the Internet. I wish our Wikimedian colleagues a speedy return to their online activities, and most importantly safety in these troubling times. Farah
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