Protesting students have returned to the streets of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, defying a ban on public rallies following a day of clashes which left dozens dead.

Symbolic funeral processions were planned to pay tribute to at least 25 people killed on Thursday, the BBC reported. 

Two more deaths were reported on Friday, bringing the total since protests started to at least 33 - although the exact toll is difficult to assess due in part to an almost complete communications shutdown, with mobile internet and telephone lines reportedly down.

The shutdown comes as authorities try to quell the protests demanding the government scrap a job quota for the families of veterans of the country's independence war in 1971.