Bangladesh returns to normality after violent clashes that left nearly 200 people dead

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Bangladesh began to return to normality on Wednesday after more than a week of chaos following student protests against government job quotas, with internet access and office hours restricted and nearly 200 people reported dead in the wave of violence that lasted just over a week.

There was still no internet in much of the country, but thousands of cars were on the streets in the capital after authorities relaxed a seven-hour curfew.

Offices and banks remained open for a few hours on Wednesday while authorities restored broadband internet access in some areas of Dhaka and the second-biggest city of Chattogram. Authorities said the curfew would continue in Dhaka and elsewhere until the situation improved.

At least 197 people have been killed in violence since July 16, leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported on Wednesday. The Associated Press could not confirm the death toll from any official source.

Schools and other educational institutions remain closed until further notice.

Since July 15, clashes have broken out between police and mostly students demanding the abolition of a quota that reserved 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. The chaos turned deadly after the country’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party pledged their support for the protests. As violence spread across the country, many government facilities in Dhaka were attacked.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered the 1971 quota for war veterans to be cut to 5%, making 93% of public sector jobs merit-based, while the remaining 2% will be reserved for ethnic minorities, transgender people and people with disabilities.

On Tuesday, the government issued a circular accepting a Supreme Court ruling reforming the quota system for government jobs. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government welcomed the ruling and said it was ready to implement it.

Protesters have long reacted to Sunday’s ruling, saying on Tuesday that the Supreme Court ruling and the government’s subsequent circular were in favor of the protesters, but that the government must be held accountable for the bloodshed and deaths associated with the protests.

The protests are the biggest challenge to the Bangladeshi government since Hasina won a fourth consecutive election in January that was boycotted by main opposition groups. Universities have been closed, the internet has been shut down and the government has ordered people to stay at home.

Protesters had argued that the quota system was discriminatory and favored supporters of Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement. They wanted to replace it with a merit-based system. Hasina defended the quota system, arguing that veterans who fought and died and the women who were raped and tortured in 1971 deserve the utmost respect, regardless of their political affiliation.

The Awami League and the BNP have frequently accused each other of fomenting 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 leaders.

On Wednesday, the government relaxed the curfew from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and opened offices and banks from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Textile factories, which mainly export to Western countries, also reopened. Some main roads in Dhaka were clogged.

Law Minister Anisul Huq has repeatedly said that the violence escalated when armed cadres from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami joined the protests and attacked numerous government buildings, including the headquarters of state-run Bangladesh Television, two toll booths on a flyover and a highway, and two subway stations in Dhaka. Hundreds of government vehicles were also set on fire.

The headquarters of the main opposition party was stormed and cordoned off. Police said they had seized sticks and iron rods as well as locally made weapons at the opposition party’s headquarters in Dhaka.

Bu Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, general secretary of the main opposition party, rejected the allegations and blamed the government for the high death toll.

On Tuesday evening, authorities in Dhaka and Chattogram had only partially restored broadband internet service after six days, said Zunaid Ahmed Palak, minister of state for information and communications technology.

He blamed protesters for days of internet outages, when a central data center was set on fire and fiber optic connections were cut. He said internet was gradually being restored across the country, but for now only companies, banks, diplomatic zones and some other areas would have internet.

This came days after a shoot-to-kill curfew was imposed and military personnel patrolled the capital and other areas. Authorities said around 27,000 troops were deployed across the country to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order.

Hasina has held a series of meetings with the commanders of the three wings of the military, senior business leaders and political partners. She said the curfew was imposed to restore normalcy. She also blamed the opposition for the violence and said perpetrators would not be spared.

The US embassy described the situation on Sunday as volatile and unpredictable, adding that firearms, tear gas and other weapons had been used near the embassy. It urged Americans to be vigilant, avoid large crowds and reconsider their travel plans.