Student violence in Bangladesh has killed scores of people
Posted by
21
Jul
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Deadly clashes between police and demonstrators demanding a change to job quotas in Bangladesh have left the streets littered with bullets and marked with smears of blood. Scores of people have died.
Students, frustrated by shortages of good jobs, have been demanding an end to a quota that reserved 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.
Bangladesh’s top court on Sunday scaled back that quota and ordered that the veterans’ share be cut to 5%, with 93% of jobs to be allocated on merit. The remaining 2% will be set aside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people.
The protests have posed the most serious challenge to Bangladesh’s government since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a fourth consecutive term in January elections that were boycotted by the main opposition groups. Universities have been closed, the internet has been shut off and the government has ordered people to stay at home.
The protests turned deadly on Tuesday, a day after students at Dhaka University began clashing with police. Violence continued to escalate as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and hurled smoke grenades to scatter stone-throwing protesters.
Bangladeshi authorities haven’t shared any official numbers of those killed and injured, but at least four local newspapers on Sunday reported that over 100 people have died.
A student hides under a vehicle during a clash over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, at Jahangir Nagar University in Savar ,outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, July 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)
Police fire tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse students shouting slogans in favour of a controversial quota system for government job applicants, at the university campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, at Jahangir Nagar University in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, July 15, 2024.(AP Photo/Abdul Goni)
Students clash over a controversial quota system for government job applicants in the New market area of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
Students advocating for reform of a controversial quota system for government job applicants, participate in a mock funeral in memory of those who died in recent clashes, at Dhaka University, Bangladesh, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students beat a policeman with sticks during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday July 18, 2024.(AP Photo/Anik Rahman)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday July 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Anik Rahman)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Policemen take position to disperse students protesting a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Police fire tear gas shells to disperse students protesting over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Police fire tear gas shells to disperse students protesting over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Fire and smoke from tear gas shells envelop a street as students clash with police over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Police fire tear gas shells to disperse students protesting a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Students clash with police during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Bangladeshi military force stand guard on a street during a nationwide curfew in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024.(AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
A Bangladeshi military force soldier asks a couple to return back to their house during a nationwide curfew in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Bangladeshi military force soldiers patrol a street during a nationwide curfew in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
A student, injured in clashes with security officers, is carried on a stretcher to a hospital, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
Bangladeshi military force soldiers on armored vehicles patrol the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
A Bangladeshi military force soldier patrols a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)
