Bangladesh protests resume after student ultimatum ignored

A Bangladesh police personnel detains a student during a rally against quotas in government jobs, along a street in Dhaka on July 29, 2024. (AFP)

• Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people
• The clashes were some of the worst of PM Hasina’s tenure but the government has since largely restored order

DHAKA: Bangladeshi students held scattered street protests on Monday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government ignored an ultimatum to release their leaders and apologize for those killed in deadly unrest.
Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people, including several police officers, according to an AFP count of police and hospital data.
The clashes were some of the worst of Hasina’s 15-year tenure but her government has since largely restored order by deploying troops, imposing a curfew and shutting down the Internet nationwide.
At least half a dozen leaders of Students Against Discrimination, the group that organized the initial protests, are among thousands since taken into police custody.
“The government is continuing to show complete and utter insensitivity to our movement,” Abdul Kader, one of the group’s coordinators, said in a statement.
“We are requesting all citizens of Bangladesh to show solidarity with our demands and join in our movement.”
Several protests were staged in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh on Monday, but they were only a fraction of the size of those seen earlier in the month.
Police charged with batons to break up one protest on Dhaka’s outskirts, arresting at least 20 people, newspaper Prothom Alo reported.
Security forces were deployed widely elsewhere in the teeming megacity of 20 million to deter other demonstrations.
Students Against Discrimination leaders had vowed to end a week-long moratorium on new demonstrations if police failed to release their leaders by Sunday evening.
The group’s demands also include a public apology from Hasina for the violence, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and the reopening of schools and universities around the country that were shuttered at the height of the unrest.
At least 9,000 people have been arrested nationwide since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday was “concerned about reported mass arrests” as well as “emerging reports about the excessive use of force by security forces,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
Troops are still patrolling urban areas and a nationwide curfew remains in force, but it has been progressively eased since the start of last week.
Bangladesh’s mobile Internet network was restored on Sunday, 11 days after a nationwide blackout imposed at the height of the unrest, in another sign of the government’s confidence that it was in control of the situation.
“The situation is turning back to normalcy thanks to the timely and appropriate measures taken by the government and the people,” the foreign ministry said in a Sunday statement.
Hasina’s government also declared a day of national mourning on Tuesday for those who were killed during the unrest.
Protests began this month over the reintroduction of a quota scheme reserving more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.
With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.
Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists of the ruling Awami League.
The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs last week but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.
The government has accused opposition parties of hijacking the protests to cause unrest.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters Sunday that security forces had operated with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.