DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladeshi police and security forces fired bullets and tear gas at protesters on Friday and imposed a total ban on public gatherings in the capital as days of clashes over government job allocations cut internet and mobile phone services, reportedly leaving several people dead.
ProtestsThe protests, which began several weeks ago but escalated sharply this week, pose the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since winning her fourth election. Consecutive terms He took office following January elections that were boycotted by the main opposition group.
There were differing reports on the death toll on Friday, with Independent TV putting the number at 17 and Somoy TV putting the number at 30. An Associated Press reporter saw 23 bodies at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but it was not immediately clear whether all of them died on Friday.
Twenty-two deaths were reported Thursday so far. The bloodiest day of the protestsLocal media said the protests were due to students trying to force a “total shutdown” of the country.
Authorities could not immediately be reached to confirm the death toll.
The unrest has highlighted cracks in Bangladesh’s governance and economy, as well as the frustration of young college graduates who face a shortage of good jobs.
The government has deployed police and paramilitary forces across the capital to seal off campuses and quell protests. Universities, including the country’s largest, suspended classes and closed dormitories on Wednesday, and Dhaka police announced a total ban on rallies and demonstrations in the capital on Friday.
An Associated Press journalist saw border guards open fire on more than 1,000 protesters who had gathered outside the headquarters of state-run Bangladesh Television, which had been attacked and set on fire by protesters the previous day.
Border patrols opened fire on the crowds with rifles and sound grenades, while police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, leaving the streets littered with bullets and blood.
Internet services and mobile data were widely disrupted in the capital Dhaka on Thursday night and remained down on Friday, with social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp also not loading. Widespread internet outages Friday’s powerful earthquake disrupted flights, banks, news outlets and businesses around the world, but the disruption in Bangladesh was significantly greater than seen elsewhere.
The country’s telecommunications regulatory commission said in a statement that protesters stormed a data center on Thursday and set some equipment on fire, making it impossible to ensure service, a statement that The Associated Press could not independently verify.
Student protesters said they would continue their calls for the closure on Friday and called on mosques across the country to hold funerals for the victims. Major universities have said they will close until tensions ease.
Protesters are demanding the end of a quota system that reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of Bangladeshi veterans who fought in the 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.
They say the system is discriminatory and favours supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League party that led the independence movement, and they want to replace it with a meritocratic system.
But Prime Minister Hasina defended the quota system, saying veterans should receive the utmost respect for their war service regardless of their political affiliation.
Bangladesh’s leaders are credited with delivering stable growth to the country, but global turmoil caused by the war in Ukraine has led to rising inflation, labor unrest and discontent with the government.
Although job opportunities are growing in some parts of the private sector, many people prefer civil service jobs because they are seen as more stable and better paid. But there are not enough civil servants: Every year, about 400,000 graduates compete in the civil service exam for around 3,000 positions.
“What is happening in Bangladesh is deeply disturbing for a generation that only wanted a fair chance in civil service recruitment,” said Saad Hammadi, a free speech advocate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Canada. “That peaceful protests against state policies have descended into lawlessness shows the government’s lack of foresight and ineffective policy governance,” Hammadi said.
“The internet shutdown has made the situation worse, making local news sites inaccessible and leaving the country’s people cut off from contact with the world. All of this is a pretext for sweeping state operations that often result in serious human rights violations,” he added by email.
Bangladesh has previously used internet shutdowns in protest-affected areas as a way to stifle opposition dissent. Internet monitoring group Access Now said it recorded three shutdowns in the country in 2023, all of which coincided with opposition rallies and were limited to a single city or district. There were six shutdowns in 2022.
CIVICUS, a nonprofit that tracks civil liberties around the world, downgraded Bangladesh to its worst rating of “closed” last year, alongside China and Venezuela, after a crackdown on opposition members and supporters ahead of national elections.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has vowed to support the protesting students and organise its own demonstrations, with many of its supporters joining the student demonstrations. On Friday, police fired tear gas at hundreds of BNP supporters and arrested senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
The Awami League and the BNP have accused each other of stoking political unrest and violence and recently marred the national elections with a crackdown on several opposition figures, with Hasina’s government accusing the BNP of trying to disrupt the vote.
Hasina’s government had suspended the quotas following mass student protests in 2018, but last month Bangladesh’s High Court quashed that decision and reinstated the quotas after a petition filed by families of 1971 army veterans, triggering the latest demonstrations.
The Supreme Court reserved its decision pending appeal and said in a statement that it would consider the matter on Sunday.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Prime Minister Hasina called on protesters to “wait patiently” for the court’s verdict and said they believed “justice will be delivered” and “will not be disappointed.”
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Pati reported from New Delhi, India.
