DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Police and security officials in Bangladesh fired bullets and tear gas at protesters and banned all gatherings in the capital Friday, as internet and mobile services were cut off after days of deadly clashes over government jobs.
The protestsThe protests, which began weeks ago but intensified sharply on Monday, represent the biggest challenge for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since she won a fourth term. consecutive term in power after the January elections. The main opposition groups boycotted the elections.
Local TV channel Somoy TR reported that four more people had died in the latest clashes.
This happens a day after the bloodiest day of the protests So far, 22 people have been killed, according to local media, as student protesters tried to force a “complete shutdown” of the country.
Authorities could not immediately be reached to confirm the number of deaths.
The chaos has exposed the flaws in Bangladesh’s governance and economy, as well as the frustration of young graduates facing a lack of good jobs.
The government has deployed police and paramilitary forces across the capital to seal off campuses and disperse protests. On Wednesday, universities, including the country’s largest, suspended classes and closed dormitories, and on Friday, Dhaka police said they were banning all gatherings and protests in the capital.
An Associated Press reporter saw border guards firing into a crowd of more than 1,000 protesters who had gathered outside the headquarters of Bangladesh’s state television, which had been attacked and set on fire by demonstrators the day before.
Border guards fired on the crowd on the right with rifles and stun grenades, while police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Bullets littered the streets, which were also stained with blood.
A Bangladeshi television journalist and news producer told the AP on Thursday that protesters forced open the main gate and set fire to vehicles and the reception area. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“I managed to escape by jumping over the wall, but some of my colleagues remained trapped inside. The attackers entered the building and set fire to the furniture,” the producer said by telephone.
Internet and mobile data services were widely disrupted on Thursday night and remained down on Friday in the capital, Dhaka. Social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp were also not loading. This coincided with a general internet outage Floods disrupted flights, banks, media and businesses around the world on Friday, but the disruption in Bangladesh was far greater than elsewhere.
The country’s telecommunications regulatory commission said in a statement that it was unable to provide service after its data center was attacked Thursday by protesters, who set some equipment ablaze. The Associated Press could not independently verify the report.
Student protesters said they would extend their calls for a shutdown on Friday as well, and urged mosques across the country to hold funeral prayers for those killed. Major universities said they would close until tensions ease.
The protesters are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
They say the system is discriminatory and favours supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and want it replaced with a merit-based system.
But Hasina defended the quota system, saying veterans deserve the utmost respect for their contributions to the war, regardless of their political affiliation.
The Bangladeshi leader is credited with bringing stable growth to Bangladesh, but rising inflation – partly due to global upheaval triggered by the war in Ukraine – has sparked social unrest and discontent with the government.
Although job opportunities have increased in some sectors of the private sector, many people prefer to work in the civil service, which is seen as more stable and lucrative. But there is not enough to go around: each year, some 400,000 graduates apply for around 3,000 positions in the civil service competition.
“What is happening in Bangladesh is deeply troubling for a generation that has asked for nothing more than a fair chance in public service recruitment. The fact that a peaceful protest against a state policy could degenerate into full-blown anarchy shows the shortsightedness and ineffectiveness of the government’s political governance,” said Saad Hammadi, head of policy and advocacy at the Canada-based Balsillie School of International Affairs, which campaigns for freedom of expression in the country.
“The internet shutdown is making the situation worse. Local news sites are inaccessible and the country’s residents are cut off from any contact with the rest of the world, all under the pretext of large-scale state operations that have often resulted in serious human rights violations,” he added in an email.
Bangladesh has already cut internet services in protest-hit areas, using it as a measure to crack down on opposition party dissent. Internet watchdog Access Now said it had recorded three shutdowns in the country in 2023 – all coinciding with opposition rallies and limited to one city or district. This follows six shutdowns in 2022.
CIVICUS, a nonprofit that tracks civil liberties around the world, last year downgraded Bangladesh to “closed,” the worst rating it could give, along with China and Venezuela, following a crackdown on members and supporters of the country’s opposition ahead of its national elections.
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has supported the student protesters and vowed to hold its own protests. Many party supporters have joined the student protests. On Friday, police fired tear gas at a few hundred BNP supporters and arrested the party’s top leader, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Hasina’s government has accused the BNP of stoking the violence. Authorities raided the opposition party’s headquarters earlier this week and arrested activists from the party’s student wing.
The Awami League and the BNP have often accused each other of fuelling political chaos and violence, most recently in the run-up to the country’s national elections, which were marred by a crackdown on several opposition figures while Hasina’s government accused the party of trying to disrupt the vote.
Hasina’s government had previously suspended employment quotas following mass student protests in 2018, but last month Bangladesh’s high court overturned that decision and reinstated the quotas after relatives of 1971 veterans filed petitions, sparking the latest protests.
The Supreme Court stayed that decision pending an appeal hearing and said in a statement it would consider the matter on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Hasina urged protesters in a televised speech to “wait with patience” for the court’s verdict. “I believe our students will get justice from the Supreme Court. They will not be disappointed.”
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Pathi reported from New Delhi, India.
