Police Fire Tear Gas Amid Bangladesh Job Quota Protests
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vows to punish those responsible for the deaths of six people at the protests.
Police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse students protesting against the Bangladesh government’s job quota system in Dhaka. Authorities have closed all public and private universities indefinitely.
On Wednesday, the paramilitary Border Guard force and riot police were deployed outside the University of Dhaka. Students chanted: “We will not let our brothers’ blood go in vain.”
Police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and sound grenades as students marched with coffins in solidarity with those killed, said Nahid Islam, coordinator of the anti-quota protests.
“Our protests will continue no matter the violence they unleash,” University of Dhaka student Chamon Fariya Islam told AFP.
Escalating Tensions and Violence
The job quotas, which include a 30 percent reservation for family members of fighters from the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, have sparked anger among students. They argue the system benefits children of pro-government groups who back Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, re-elected for a fourth term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.
Students also argue the quotas will not address high youth unemployment rates. Nearly 32 million young Bangladeshis are not in work or education out of a population of 170 million.
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Protests intensified and turned violent after Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, refused to meet the protesters’ demands. She labeled opponents of the quota as “razakar” – a term for alleged collaborators with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war.
On Tuesday, six people, including at least three students, were killed during clashes, police said.
Prime Minister Hasina condemned the killings and vowed justice. “I condemn every murder,” she said in a televised address on Wednesday evening. “I firmly declare that those who carried out murders, looting, and violence – whoever they are – will be given appropriate punishment.”
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud expressed sympathy towards the students and blamed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami for the violence. Police raided BNP headquarters, arresting seven members of its student wing and finding a cache of Molotov cocktails and other weapons.
Meanwhile, internet users across Bangladesh reported widespread outages of Facebook, the main platform for organizing protests. Online freedom watchdog NetBlocks said “multiple internet providers” had restricted access to the platform after Tuesday’s crackdown.
Rights watchdog Amnesty International and the US Department of State condemned the clashes and urged Hasina’s government not to crack down on peaceful demonstrators.
