At least 17 dead as Bangladesh student protests over jobs intensify

Thousands of students armed with sticks and rocks have clashed with armed police in Dhaka as the Bangladesh authorities cut some mobile internet services to quell protests against civil service hiring quotas.

At least 17 people died during clashes at protests across Bangladesh on Thursday, local media reported, as authorities blocked mobile services across most of the South Asian country.

Eleven people were killed in clashes with police in Dhaka, including a bus driver whose body was brought to a hospital with a bullet wound to his chest, and a student, police sources told Al Jazeera. Hundreds of others were wounded.

In Narayanganj, a city just southeast of Dhaka, two people were killed, according to police sources.

In Chittagong – officially known as Chattogram – in eastern Bangladesh,  two more deaths were reported.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up protesters who torched vehicles, police posts and other establishments in Dhaka, witnesses told the Reuters news agency.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, the junior information technology minister, said mobile internet had been “temporarily suspended” owing to “various rumours” and the “unstable situation created” on social media.

Services would be restored once the situation returned to normal, he added.

Hours later, a number of Bangladeshi news websites appear to be down, including The Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune.

Two days earlier, internet providers had cut off access to Facebook – the protesters’ key organising tool.

Earlier, police fired tear gas canisters at students near BRAC University in the capital, Dhaka. Tear gas was also deployed against stone-throwing students who blocked a main highway in the southern port city of Chittagong.

“The situation is still volatile and restless,” said Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka. “We know the protests are spreading in different parts of the city and … I’ve got reports of protests in other parts of the country.”

The unrest continued after students called for a nationwide shutdown on Wednesday evening, with the support of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose headquarters have been raided by police.

Government jobs quotas

Students have been demonstrating for weeks against a quota system for government jobs that they say favours supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, which led the country’s independence movement.

Under the system, a third of jobs are reserved for family members of veterans who fought for the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Angered by high youth unemployment, with nearly 32 million people – almost one-fifth of the total population of 170 million – out of work or education, students are pressing for a system based on merit.

The protests escalated after violence broke out on the campus of Dhaka University on Monday, with protesting students violently clashing with police and the student wing of Awami League.

Six people were killed amid protests on Tuesday, leading the government to shut all public and private universities indefinitely on Wednesday and send riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to campuses.

The violence continued late on Wednesday in Dhaka, with Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury reporting that students were “stuck” on campus at Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University.

“Police used rubber bullets, shotguns, tear gas and were even followed sometimes by pro-government student-wing members who attacked the students,” he said.

State broadcaster attacked

Late on Thursday, the country’s state-run Bangladesh Television station’s head office was attacked as protesters broke the main gate, and set the reception and vehicle on fire, a news producer and a reporter told The Associated Press news agency.

“Many people are trapped inside,” the broadcaster said on its Facebook page, adding that the “catastrophic fire” was spreading quickly.

The protests are the first significant challenge to Hasina’s government since she won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition.

In a speech on Wednesday, Hasina promised her government would set up a judicial panel to investigate the deaths, promising that those responsible would be brought to justice.

The government halted the quotas after mass student protests in 2018. But last month, the High Court nullified that decision and reinstated the quotas after relatives of the 1971 veterans filed petitions.

Hasina asked the students to be patient until the Supreme Court issues a verdict next month on the government’s appeal against the High Court ruling.

“I am requesting all to wait with patience until the verdict is delivered,” Hasina said in a televised address on Wednesday evening.

“That doesn’t seem to have convinced the students much,” said Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury. “It’s unprecedented using that kind of police force against students.”

On Thursday, Law Minister Anisul Huq said the government was willing to talk to the protesters.

“We are willing to sit [with them]. Whenever they want to sit in the discussion, it will happen,” he said.

The United States embassy in Dhaka said it would close on Thursday and advised its citizens to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings. The Indian embassy issued a similar advisory.

Rights groups, such as Amnesty International, as well as the United Nations and the US, have urged Bangladesh to protect peaceful protesters from violence.