At least 105 dead in student protests in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is experiencing street riots by students that have left at least 105 dead in the past four days, according to a count by AFP. The French news agency obtained the figure after contacting the heads of three hospitals in the country’s capital, Dhaka, and six other health centres in Rangpur, a city in northern Bangladesh.

Student protests – which have since been banned by the government – began in early July to demand better access to public jobs and degenerated into violent clashes this week.

One of the main opposition leaders, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was arrested on Friday in Dhaka after four days of deadly clashes.

The outbreak is a major challenge to the autocratic administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has ruled for 15 years and is accused by the opposition of seeking to stamp out any dissent.

Privileged access for government supporters

Students call for an end to discrimination in access to public employment

Clashes erupted again on Friday morning as students took to the streets again ahead of pro-government counter-demonstrations planned after midday prayers in the predominantly Muslim country.

Police on Friday banned all public demonstrations and gatherings in Dhaka, saying that “criminals” had “burned, vandalised and carried out destructive activities” in official buildings. The headquarters of the public broadcaster Bangladesh Television (BTV) was among the institutions burned. BTV was still not broadcasting on Friday, while according to several sources the internet connection in the country was interrupted.

More than 700 people were injured on Thursday, including 104 police officers and 30 journalists, according to the private Independent Television channel, which said 26 of the country’s 64 districts had reported clashes. Police say around 100 officers were injured and about 50 police stations burned.

The almost daily protests that began in early July are aimed at ending public service recruitment quotas that reserve more than half of jobs for specific groups, in particular children of veterans of the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

In the context of an acute employment crisis in this country of 170 million people, where millions of graduates are unemployed, students are demanding a merit-based recruitment system. They denounce a system that favours the children of supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in force since 2009.

Human rights groups have also accused the government of seeking to stamp out all dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists. This week, the government ordered schools and universities to close indefinitely.

The current situation “is the eruption of a latent discontent among young people that has built up over the years, due to the deprivation of their economic and political rights,” Ali Riaz, a professor of politics at the University of Illinois, told AFP. “Employment quotas have become the symbol of a rigged system,” he added.

“Our protest will continue,” said Sarwar Tushar, who took part in a march in the capital and was slightly injured when the demonstration was violently dispersed by police. “We want the immediate resignation of Sheikh Hasina. The government is responsible for the killings,” he added.