More than two dozen dead in Bangladesh unrest as protests spread

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More than two dozen people have been killed in Bangladesh as a wave of student protests over the layoffs exposed widespread resentment at Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian government and the deep economic distress of the world’s second-largest garment exporter.

For weeks, university students in the country of 170 million people have been demanding the abolition of the government’s controversial job quota system, which they say benefits supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League party and has become a symbol of the corruption that flourished during her 20-year rule.

At least 39 people were killed in the unrest, the French news agency AFP reported, citing figures from local hospitals. About two-thirds of the victims were apparently injured by police weapons, including rubber bullets. Other news agencies and local media estimate the death toll to be between 24 and 28.

Authorities have closed universities and blocked internet services across the country. Mobile phone networks also appear to be disrupted. The Financial Times was unable to connect to conversations with sources in Bangladesh on Friday morning.

Students said they were attacked by Awami League supporters and police, while authorities blamed protesters for acts of vandalism, including setting fire to the offices of state broadcaster BTV on Thursday.

Volker Türk, the UN’s human rights commissioner, called on the government to work with the protesters. “All acts of violence and the use of force, especially those that resulted in deaths, must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice,” he said on X. Sheikh Hasina condemned the deaths and her government has announced that it will hold talks with students. However, the protesters rejected this offer as dishonest.

The quota system, which was suspended in 2018 and reinstated by a court last month, reserves about a third of public sector jobs for descendants of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Critics say the system is designed to favor supporters of the Awami League, which sees itself as the only true heir to the independence movement.

Sheikh Hasina, the world’s longest-serving female politician, was re-elected for a fifth term in January. The vote was marred by irregularities, including a police crackdown on her political rivals in the run-up to the election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, her main rival, called a strike in the capital Dhaka in solidarity with the students.

The anger over the quota system highlights how few opportunities Bangladesh has despite its rapid economic growth. The country has developed from one of the poorest countries in the world into a center for global manufacturers such as H&M and Zara. The country’s gross domestic product is now higher than that of neighboring India.

Nevertheless, the economy has been battling a gradual downturn since the Covid-19 pandemic. Painful inflation, power outages and declining foreign exchange reserves are fueling public resentment over Sheikh Hasina’s increasingly autocratic rule.

Its government enjoys strong support in neighboring India and China, which see its secularism as a bulwark against Islamism in the region. However, relations with the United States and Europe are strained by its proximity to Beijing.

The US State Department said this week that it was monitoring the protests and “condemns any violence against peaceful protesters.”

A case over the quota system is expected to end up in the country’s Supreme Court.