Police have clashed with student protesters attempting to impose a “complete shutdown” of Bangladesh’s capital, following days of violent confrontations, with media reports saying 19 people have died across the country.
Dhaka-based Prohtom Alo newspaper said they had received reports of 19 deaths in Dhaka and elsewhere in the ongoing violence. The country’s leading English-language Daily Star reported 19 deaths.
With the latest toll, the number of deaths has reached 25 since Tuesday, when six others lost their lives in the violence.
Authorities have not confirmed the figures.
Prohtom Alo said at least six people died in Dhaka’s Uttara area in clashes between protesters and security officials and ruling party activists.
Students have been demonstrating for weeks against a quota system for government jobs which they say favours allies of the ruling party, but the protests have escalated since violence broke out between protesters, police and pro-government student activists on the campus of Dhaka University on Monday.
Six people were killed on Tuesday, leading the government to ask universities across the country to close and police to raid the main opposition party’s headquarters.
As violence continued to take place on Thursday, Bangladesh’s law minister Anisul Huq said in the afternoon that the country's prime minister Sheikh Hasina had asked him to sit with the protesters for a dialogue, and that he was ready to do so if protesters were willing.
On Wednesday night, the protesters announced they would enforce “a complete shutdown” across the country on Thursday in response to security officials’ continued attacks on the campus demonstrators.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party said that it would do what it could to make the shutdown a success.
Clashes continued as protesters attempted to enforce the shutdown on Thursday morning.
In Dhaka’s Uttara neighbourhood, hundreds of protesters were chased by police after they blocked the road and chanted.
In other places, police fired tear gas and charged with batons to disperse the protesters, who threw stones in response.
Scores of people, including police, were injured in the violence, a spokesperson for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said.
Police said protesters had attacked and set fire to a traffic police box and vandalised police vehicles amid clashes across the city.
Local television reported violence in other cities including Chattogram and Khulna, while protesters also blocked some major roads.
Protesters are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971.
They argue that the system is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Ms Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and they want it replaced with a merit-based system.
Ms Hasina’s government halted the quotas after mass student protests in 2018.
But last month, Bangladesh’s High Court nullified that decision and reinstated the quotas after relatives of the 1971 veterans filed petitions, triggering the latest demonstrations.
The Supreme Court then suspended the High Court’s ruling and is expected to rule on August 7.
The government has also appealed the High Court decision in the wake of the protests, according to the attorney general’s office.
Mr Huq said the government was seeking an early hearing.
“I have already asked the attorney general to appeal in the Supreme Court on Sunday seeking early hearing,” he told reporters.
“I am requesting all to wait with patience until the verdict is delivered,” Ms Hasina said in a televised address on Wednesday evening.
“I believe our students will get justice from the apex court. They will not be disappointed.”
While job opportunities have expanded in Bangladesh’s private sector, many people prefer government jobs because they are stable and well paid. Each year, some 400,000 graduates compete for 3,000 jobs in the civil service exam.
Ms Hasina said there would be a judicial investigation into Tuesday’s deaths and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
“Some precious lives have been lost unnecessarily,” she said. “I condemn every killing.”
