Dhaka, Bangladesh – Ahsan Habib, a student at a private university, had been taking to the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, for three days to protest what he called “violent assaults” on ordinary people like him by police and ruling party supporters.
Student protests calling for reform of the government’s quota system for jobs have escalated into violence across the country, with calls for government accountability for the loss of life over the past week.
on sunday, The Supreme Court has abolished most of the quotas.The government has said 93 percent of government employees will now be recruited on a meritocratic basis, but student leaders have vowed to continue their protests, demanding the release of jailed protesters and the resignation of officials, including Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who is responsible for the riots that have left at least 131 people dead.
Authorities have not yet released casualty figures, so Al Jazeera spoke to a network of doctors and journalists to tally up the death toll. The two main Bengali and English dailies, Prothom Alo and The Daily Star, reported 146 and 127 deaths respectively.
More than 70 percent of the deaths were reported in Dhaka, with the streets littered with debris from thousands of tear gas canisters, sound grenades, shotgun shells, rubber bullets and broken bricks.
With the exception of two police officers and two ruling party supporters, all of the dead were students or civilians.
“We were fighting bullets with brick fragments,” said Habib, who took part in a protest in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area on Tuesday. “Not only the police, but also people from the ruling party were there. [Awami League] Police in helmets started firing live ammunition at us.”
On Sunday, Habib’s parents imposed a curfew and shoot-at-home orders, preventing him from going out, while Habib’s best friend was seriously injured in the violence and is receiving treatment at a local hospital.
“What about quota reform now? This government has used so much violence to oppress us. We want justice for our fallen compatriots,” Habib told Al Jazeera.
Student leaders also Demand an apology Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initially defended the veterans quota, with party leaders calling the protesters “anti-national.”
Protesters call President Hasina, in power since 2009, a “dictator”. The past two elections – in 2019 and 2024 – were marred by voter fraud, widespread irregularities and boycotts by the opposition.
“Of course, quota reforms alone are not enough right now,” Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University, told Al Jazeera. “Many students and civilians have died in these violent protests, which were clearly instigated by the government in the first place. Someone has to be held responsible for this tragedy.”
Curfews and crackdowns
As the violence escalated, the government A night-time curfew was issued It will be closed for an indefinite period from midnight on Friday, with intermittent two-hour closures to allow people to stock up on essential items.
The government also deployed the military to prevent escalation of violence after police were accused of using excessive force against protesters, and soldiers were seen patrolling different parts of the city and other districts on Saturday.
However, defying the night curfew, thousands of protesters, including students and non-students, took to the streets on Saturday and marched, blocking roads and highways and setting fire to tyres and wooden planks in different parts of the country and the capital.
Rezaul Karim Rony, a journalist and editor of the monthly magazine Joban, told Al Jazeera that the vast majority of protesters in his part of Dhaka were not students.
“The protests are no longer just about students, ordinary people are joining in spontaneously,” Ronnie told Al Jazeera from Mirpur, Dhaka. “There is pent-up anger among ordinary people under Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian government and they are seeing the student-led protests as an outlet to air their frustration.”
Protesters attacked numerous facilities across the country, including key government buildings, the Dhaka metro and even a prison in the central district of Narsingdi. Several ruling party offices and homes of party leaders were also targeted.
Mohammed A. Arafat, Minister of State for Information, told Al Jazeera that the protests had been “hijacked” by vested interests. Students were fighting for their “legitimate demands” for quota reform, he said.
More than 50% of government jobs are reserved in the South Asian country of 170 million people. With job growth stagnating and the cost of living rising since the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic, protesters are demanding the repeal of a 30% quota for descendants of 1971 independence war veterans.
Rony, an editor at a local magazine, agreed that some opposition leaders had joined the protests and indulged in “vandalism”, but said the government’s portrayal of the protesters was “misleading”.This is now a public protest by the public,” he said.
On Saturday, Nahid Islam, a leading member of the Student Quota Reform Movement, was reportedly picked up by plainclothes police from his residence in the capital. Islam’s family went to the police’s Criminal Investigation Division, but his whereabouts remain unknown.
Internet shutdown paralyzes entire country
A complete internet shutdown has been in place since Thursday, causing an information blackout and disrupting daily life.
Ridwanul Alam, a private company employee, has been desperately trying to recharge his prepaid electricity meter since Saturday morning as there is no electricity at his home.
Alam first tried using mobile financial service bKash to pay his bills but that didn’t work because he didn’t have internet access. He then tried to withdraw cash from an ATM, but that also failed.
“I don’t know what to do. The internet is cut off and there is no electricity in my house,” he told Al Jazeera on Sunday.
Economic activity has also come to a complete halt. Customs at Chittagong port, which handles over 80 percent of the country’s imports and exports, has been unable to clear any containers for the past 40 hours.
Journalists are struggling relentlessly to find ways to gather and record the news. Muktadir Rashid, a journalist at digital portal Bangla Outlook, told Al Jazeera that imposing an internet shutdown is now a crime.
“The government is essentially taking away people’s right to know,” he said, “and that’s a necessity in any democracy.”
