Bangladesh protest death toll reaches 32

DHAKA – Thousands of students armed with sticks and rocks clashed with armed police in Dhaka on Thursday as Bangladeshi authorities cut some mobile internet services in an attempt to quell anti-job quota protests that have resulted in at least 32 deaths this week.

The nationwide unrest, the largest since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s re-election for a fourth term, is driven by high unemployment among young people, with nearly a fifth of the 170 million population out of work or education. Protesters are demanding the government end the policy of reserving 30% of government jobs for families of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.

On Thursday, at least 25 people were killed, adding to the seven deaths reported earlier in the week, according to hospital casualty figures. Among the dead were a bus driver with a bullet wound to his chest, a rickshaw-puller, and three students, officials told Reuters.

Hundreds more were injured as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who set vehicles, police posts, and other establishments on fire, witnesses said.

Law Minister Anisul Huq stated that the government was willing to hold talks with the protesters. However, protest leaders refused, saying, “discussions and opening fire do not go hand in hand.” Protest co-ordinator Nahid Islam added, “We cannot trample over dead bodies to hold discussions. Discussions could have taken place earlier.”

Prime Minister Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who led Bangladesh to independence, has so far rejected the protesters’ demands. Earlier, police used tear gas to scatter protesters near a Dhaka university campus, and authorities cut some mobile internet services to curb the demonstrations. Police also fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing students who blocked a highway in the southern port city of Chittagong.

Authorities shut all public and private universities indefinitely from Wednesday and deployed riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to university campuses to maintain order.

The Supreme Court on August 7 will hear the government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that ordered the reinstatement of the quota. Hasina has urged the students to be patient until the ruling.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International, along with the United Nations and the United States, have called on Bangladesh to protect peaceful protesters from violence.