Bangladesh job quota protesters call for nationwide shutdown

Rallies demanding an end to a quota system that reserves government jobs for specific groups have turned violent.


Police fire tear gas to disperse students protesting against quotas in government jobs at Dhaka University. [Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

Student protesters demanding an end to quotas for government jobs in Bangladesh have called for a complete nationwide shutdown after six people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes this week.

Angered by high youth unemployment, with nearly 32 million people out of work or education in the total population of 170 million, the students have pressed for the abolition of a quota of 30 percent reservations for the families of veterans of the 1971 independence war.

“We will go ahead with our plans for complete shutdown … All establishments will remain closed,” said protest coordinator Nahid Islam.

“Only hospitals and emergency services will remain operational, with ambulance services being the sole permitted transport.”

Many government and private offices were open on Thursday in the capital, Dhaka, with three-wheelers and motorcycles on the streets, although public buses were fewer than usual.

Authorities had closed all public and private universities indefinitely from Wednesday and sent riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to university campuses to ensure law and order.

The protests are the first significant challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government since she won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

In an address to the nation on Wednesday, Hasina promised her government would set up a judicial panel to investigate the deaths after police fired bullets and tear gas to scatter protesters.

On August 7, the Supreme Court will hear the government’s appeal against a High Court verdict that ordered the reinstatement of the 30 percent reservation for the families of war veterans, she added.

Hasina asked the students to be patient until the verdict.

The violence was prompted by nationwide clashes between thousands of protesters and members of the student wing of Hasina’s governing Awami League party. At least three students were among the six killed in Tuesday’s clashes, police said.

The demonstrations intensified after Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, refused to meet the protesters’ demands.

Rights groups, such as Amnesty International, as well as the United Nations and the United States, have urged Bangladesh to protect peaceful protesters from violence.


Protesters called for a complete shutdown nationwide on Thursday. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]


Police fire tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse students. [Rajib Dhar/AP Photo]


Near-daily marches this month have demanded an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans of the 1971 independence war against Pakistan. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]


Critics say the scheme benefits the children of pro-government groups who back Prime Minister Hasina, who has been in power since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]


Protesters lie on the ground at Dhaka University campus. [Monirul Alam/EPA]

Every high school, university and Islamic seminary across the country was told to remain shut until further notice following weeks of escalating demonstrations against civil service hiring policies. [Monirul Alam/EPA]