Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday vowed to punish those responsible for the deaths of six people, including anti-government protesters, after student protests saw campuses shutter around the country.
Six people were killed in clashes between police and protesters on Tuesday, which was the most violent day so far in weeks of protests regarding public sector job quotas for the children of freedom fighters who fought in the 1971 War of Independence.
“I firmly declare that those who carried out murders, looting and violence — whoever they are — I will make sure they will be given the appropriate punishment,” Hasina said in a televised address.
Bangladesh shuts down universities amid unrest
Three of the victims died in the southern port city of Chittagong, more than 300 kilometers from the capital Dhaka, while two were killed in Dhaka and one in the northern district of Rangpur, police said.
On Wednesday, students in Dhaka marched with empty coffins to mourn the dead and chanted: “We will not let our brothers’ blood go in vain.”
Police broke up the public funeral by firing rubber bullets and tear gas against the students.
“Police attacked us with tear gas and stun grenades just when we had started,” protest leader Nahid Islam told the AFP news agency.
Bangladesh: Several dead in student protests over quota system
Hundreds of students have been injured during protests in Dhaka. Students loyal to the government attacked peaceful marchers.
Clashes in Dhaka
Hundreds of people in Bangladesh have been injured while demonstrating against a new quota system for coveted government jobs. The violence broke out between rival student groups. Protesters who had taken part in peaceful marches were attacked with stones, sticks and machetes by pro-government activists.
Several dead and injured
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and the Supreme Court had called on the protesters to return to the lecture halls. Nevertheless, the violence between the various groups escalated. Shamsur Rahman, head of the clinic at Jahangirnagar University, speaks of more than a hundred injured students in his institution alone. News agency AP reported several fatalities.
Brutal violence emanates from pro-government students
A student allegedly loyal to the government is beating a protester with a metal rod. “They attacked us all of a sudden and took us completely by surprise,” 26-year-old student Shahinur Shumi told the AFP news agency in hospital.
The situation remains tense
The violence has provoked international protest: The US State Department condemns the “violence against peaceful demonstrators.” The bone of contention is the introduction of a quota that favors veterans of the 1971 War of Independence for jobs in the civil service.
Riot police against quota opponents
A massive police force was deployed to bring the situation at the universities under control. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hasina defends the quota system: the “freedom fighters” of 1971 had given up dreams for their own lives and therefore “deserve the highest respect,” she said at an event in Dhaka.
Call for a reform of the quota system
On the Dhaka University campus, female students are protesting for a change, from the quota system to a merit-based system. The protests have been smouldering for some time, but now the violence has suddenly escalated. Student representatives blame student groups close to the government.
What happens next?
Despite all the violence, the student protesters remain undeterred: They continue to demand a fairer system for the distribution of posts in the civil service. The government’s reaction will be decisive for further developments. Will it seek a constructive dialogue or will it continue to use violence as a means of policy?
Universities closed indefinitely
In response to the six deaths, authorities ordered all universities and schools across the country to remain closed indefinitely from Wednesday.
Education Ministry spokesman M. A. Khair told AFP news agency the shutdown order was issued for “the security of the students.”
Authorities deployed the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in five major cities, including Dhaka and Chittagong, as protesters blocked some of the country’s main highways.
What triggered the protests?
Protests erupted two weeks ago on university campuses as students demonstrated against civil service hiring policies.
The protesters want an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, women, people in impoverished districts, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups that support Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote with no real opposition.
Earlier this month, a Supreme Court bench ordered the reintroduction of job quotas, which were scrapped in 2018 in the face of massive student protests.
However, an appeals court ordered a status quo on job quotas until early next month. The protesters called on the government to resolve the issue once and for all.
How is the world reacting to the protests?
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Bangladesh government “to protect the demonstrators against any form of threat or violence,” according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“It is a fundamental human right to be able to demonstrate peacefully and government should protect those rights,” Guterres said, according to the spokesman.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International urged Bangladesh to “immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protesters.”
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also condemned the “violence against peaceful protesters,” prompting a rebuke from Bangladesh’s foreign ministry.
Story By DW
