Violence grips Dhaka as quota clashes kill 18 more people in Bangladesh; Toll touches 25

The nationwide protests are the biggest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected to a fourth term in office, and are fuelled by high unemployment among the youth, with nearly a fifth of the 170 million population out of work or education.

Dhaka: At least 18 more people were killed and over 2,500 injured in Bangladesh on Thursday, media reports said, as violence escalated in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere over student protests demanding quota system reform for government jobs, taking the toll to 25 since the protests erupted.

Witnesses said the protesters laid a siege on the state-run Bangladesh Television Bhaban in the Rampura area in Dhaka and damaged its front side, torched several parked vehicles while some staff including journalists were trapped inside.

University students in Dhaka and other cities have been holding rallies for more than a week protesting the system of reservation in public sector jobs, including that for the relatives of war heroes, who fought for the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.

“At least 18 people were killed and more than 2,500 were injured in today's nationwide clashes between protesters and law enforcers and ruling party men,” newspaper The Daily Star said.

Earlier, the mass-circulation Prothom Alo newspaper had reported, “There are reports of 11 deaths. While nine of these deaths are reported from Dhaka, one is in Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, and one in south-western Madaripur district.”

Private Somoy Television channel said police continued to use rubber bullets, tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the protesters.

The major clashes between protesters and police erupted in the Uttara area of the capital where several private universities are located.

Authorities could not immediately confirm the identity of all but reports suggest most of the dead are assumed to be students.

Earlier, six people, most of them students, were killed on Tuesday while another death was reported overnight, taking the total death toll to 18 since the protest started more than a week ago.

However, police have not yet issued a statement on the casualties.

The escalated violence prompted authorities to shut the metro rail inside the capital alongside the railway services to and from Dhaka since Thursday afternoon.

The government ordered the shutdown of mobile internet networks to quell the demonstrators. Bangladesh police website was inaccessible while that of the ruling Awami League’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League was hacked.

Authorities deployed Border Guard Bangladesh personnel across the country including the capital, to maintain law and order, the official BSS news agency reported.

Government offices and banks were open as paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), riot police and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) patrolled streets in Dhaka and other major cities but the attendance appeared thin because of limited public transport. Also, many offices have asked their staff to work from home.

The protesters overnight vowed to enforce a “complete shutdown” nationwide after days of their demonstrations and violent clashes and ruling Awami League-backed student activists that left at least seven people dead on Tuesday.

Earlier reports suggested that Thursday’s violence escalated after the ruling party’s student activists allegedly confronted the protesters on the streets with bricks and bamboo sticks.

Law minister Anisul Huq, meanwhile, told a media briefing on Thursday that the government decided to sit in a dialogue with protesting students and that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had entrusted him and Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury with the task of the discussion.

The law minister said, as promised by the prime minister on Wednesday, a judicial investigation committee was formed on Thursday with High Court judge Khondkar Diliruzzaman as its head to enquire into the killing in violence. He also urged them to call off the protest.

But Students Against Discrimination, the main group behind this month's rallies, said the premier’s words were insincere and “it did not reflect the murders and mayhem carried out by her party activists.”

A spokesman of the protesters later said they no longer seek dialogue with the government and Nazmul Hassan, one of the coordinators said: “Instead, we demand the immediate issuance of a gazette notification cancelling quotas in government jobs.”

Fifty-six per cent of government jobs are reserved under the current quota system. A maximum 30 per cent is for the descendants of the 1971 Liberation War freedom fighters, 10 per cent for backward administrative districts, 10 per cent for women, five per cent for ethnic minority groups and one per cent for physically challenged people.

Every year some 3,000 government jobs open up to nearly 4,00,000 graduates.

The protestors are waging a campaign for the reform of the system saying it debars meritorious students’ recruitment in first-class and second-class government jobs.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hasina, in a televised address, had offered an olive branch asking protesters to keep patience and faith in the Supreme Court as the issue is pending there for a decision. “I believe our students will get justice (in the apex court). They will not be disappointed,” she said.

The Supreme Court has set August 7 as the date for the hearing of the case. The law minister said the government would file a petition to advance the date for quicker disposal of the issue.