At least 10 people have died this week following a violent clash between students and police in Dhaka, Bangladesh. On Thursday, thousands of students armed with sticks and rocks clashed with armed police as Bangladesh authorities cut some mobile internet services to quell anti-quota protests.
These protests are the largest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected to a fourth term, fueled by high unemployment among the youth, with nearly a fifth of the 170 million population out of work or education.
According to the local Daily Star newspaper, four people died in clashes with police on Thursday, citing Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of a city hospital. Hundreds more have been injured.
Law Minister Anisul Huq expressed the government’s willingness to talk to the protesters, who are demanding the state stop setting aside 30% of government jobs for the families of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. “We are willing to sit (and talk with them). Whenever they want to sit in the discussion, it will happen,” said Huq. However, Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh to independence, has so far refused the protesters’ demands.
Earlier, police fired tear gas to scatter protesters near a Dhaka university campus and authorities cut some mobile internet services in a bid to limit the demonstrations. Police also fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing students who blocked a major highway in the southern port city of Chittagong.
The US embassy in Dhaka said it would close on Thursday and advised its citizens to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings. The Indian embassy also issued a similar advisory.
Authorities had shut all public and private universities indefinitely from Wednesday and sent riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to university campuses to maintain order. On 7th August, the Supreme Court is due to hear the government’s appeal against a High Court verdict that ordered the reinstatement of the quota. Hasina has asked the students to be patient until the verdict.
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.
The protests took a deadly turn on Tuesday when six people, including at least three students, were killed in violent clashes with police. Authorities responded by announcing the indefinite closure of all public and private universities from Wednesday. The paramilitary Border Guard force was deployed alongside riot police outside the Dhaka University campus as students chanted, “We will not let our brothers’ blood go in vain.”
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