Around 40 people have reportedly been killed and hundreds more injured in Bangladesh, after student protests raging since the beginning of July turned violent. The protesters are demanding reforms to the recruitment system for public sector jobs.
Tensions escalated on Monday, when scores of protesters clashed with police and pro-government activists at Dhaka University in the country’s capital. The government shut all public and private universities indefinitely on Wednesday and sent riot police and paramilitary forces to campuses. On Thursday, thousands of protesters stormed the office of the state broadcaster BTV and set fire to the building.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had appeared on the network one day earlier to call for peace. The protests are the biggest since Hasina was reelected for a fifth term earlier this year.
The exact death toll in the clashes is unclear. Anadolu reported on Friday, citing police sources, that 39 people were confirmed dead. AFP and Al Jazeera have reported the death toll at 32, while Reuters has said 13 people were killed in clashes on Thursday, adding to six people killed earlier this week.
According to Bangladeshi newspaper the Daily Prothom Alo, some 27 people have been killed in the incidents and more than 1,500 injured. The outlet reported that fresh clashes broke out between the protesters and the police in various areas of the capital on Friday. Police are said to have fired stun grenades, tear gas shells, and rubber bullets.
The websites of other major Bangladeshi newspapers were either not accessible or had not been updated since Thursday. Television news channels were off air on Friday morning and telecommunications were severely disrupted.
The government has also ordered a countrywide shutdown of its mobile internet network. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the junior telecommunications minister, told AFP that it was necessary to “ensure the security of citizens.” According to Dhaka residents who spoke to RT via online messengers on Thursday night, some ISP-based Wi-Fi networks were still available while mobile internet was cut off through the city.
Protesters have been demanding that the government abolish special quotas allowing the descendants of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971 to receive government jobs. Instead, they are demanding recruitment on a merit-based system. At present, 30% of government jobs are reserved for veterans’ families.
The quota system was scrapped in 2018, but in June this year the High Court reinstated it, ruling its removal was unconstitutional. On July 10, the Supreme Court suspended the quotas and the case is pending there. Hasina has urged the demonstrators to place their trust in the Supreme Court.
Activists have claimed that the system is discriminatory and that it favors allies of the ruling Awami League party, which spearheaded the independence movement. Hasina is a daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the independence movement and the “founding father” of the country. He was assassinated in 1975 along with most of his family members by a group of army officials.