Bangladesh Job Quota Protests: Students Call for Nationwide Civil Disobedience

Student leaders staged a nationwide civil disobedience campaign among Bangladeshis on Saturday, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government grappled with a growing backlash following a brutal police crackdown on protesters.

Demonstrations over civil service quotas sparked riots last month that left more than 200 people dead, some of the worst in Hasina’s 15-year term.

The military deployment briefly restored order, but crowds took to the streets after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority country, responding to a call by student leaders to pressure the government for more concessions.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the first protests, called on their compatriots to launch an all-out non-cooperation movement starting Sunday.

“This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by government workers and the suspension of foreign transfers through banks,” Asif Mahmud of the group told AFP.

Mahmud’s fellow student leaders also said there would be another round of nationwide rallies on Saturday. “Please don’t stay home. Join the next protest march,” Mahmud wrote on Facebook.

The students are demanding a public apology from Hasina for last month’s violence and the firing of several of her ministers.

They also demanded that the government reopen schools and universities across the country that were closed at the height of the unrest.

The crowds on the street went further, chanting demands for Hasina to leave office.

Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January despite no real opposition.

Her government is accused by human rights groups of abusing state institutions to consolidate power and suppress the opposition, including extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.

32 CHILDREN DIE

In early July, demonstrations broke out against the reinstatement of the quota system (later restricted by the Bangladesh Supreme Court), which had reserved more than half of all government jobs for specific groups.

With about 18 million young Bangladeshis unemployed, the decision has worried graduates who are facing a severe employment crisis, according to government data.

The protests were generally peaceful until police and pro-government student groups attacked the demonstrators.

Hasina’s government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, sent in the military and shut down the country’s mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.

Other governments have condemned the repression, with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week calling for an international investigation into the “excessive and lethal use of force against protesters”.

Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces acted with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.

At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the UN said on Friday.