Demonstrations in Bangladesh turn violent, dozens dead

More than 150 students were treated at a Dhaka hospital for injuries sustained by rubber bullets, Agence France-Presse reported. There were also reports of clashes between demonstrators protesting against the job quotas and the student wing of Hasina’s ruling party, the Awami League.

Schools and universities have been closed indefinitely and authorities have shut down mobile internet services nationwide to curb disinformation. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, said live network data showed the country plunged into a near-total internet blackout late Thursday night. The websites of several leading Bangladeshi newspapers have either not been updated since Thursday or have been inaccessible altogether. Television channels have also been taken offline.

Until Thursday evening, before communications were completely cut off, news agencies reported conflicting casualty figures, but most spoke of dozens of deaths. Leading newspaper Prothom Alo reported 29 dead and 1,500 injured on Thursday, while AFP, citing a police spokesman, put the death toll at 32.

The protests, which have been simmering for weeks but have escalated sharply in recent days, represent the biggest challenge in years for 76-year-old Hasina and her Awami League. Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, helped found the Awami League in 1949, which led the country’s bloody struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971. Hasina argues that families who took part in the liberation war should be compensated with jobs, but her critics say the program unfairly favors families close to the Awami League at a time of economic hardship.

Although Hasina has been praised for boosting Bangladesh’s textile export industry and improving public infrastructure during her more than two decades in power, the country has recently been suffering from inflation of over 9 percent and stagnant growth. Government jobs are often seen as the safest and most desirable option for young job seekers, but more than half of the jobs are reserved for various groups, including residents of remote areas and women.

The 30 percent quota for the descendants of freedom fighters was in place until 2018, when it was abolished by the Hasina government amid violent protests. Last month, a Bangladeshi court reinstated the rule, and Hasina continued to argue in her favor.

At a news conference on Sunday, Hasina said she was open to lowering the quota but argued that some form of regulation must be in place. She used a politically charged term – “razakar”, in reference to the violent gangs that collaborated with the Pakistani army in 1971 – in a comment that reverberated across the country and led to angry student groups taking to the streets.

“Why do they have so much resentment against the freedom fighters?” Hasina asked. “If the grandchildren of the freedom fighters are not getting quota benefits, should they get the grandchildren of the Razakars?”

Hasina has won every election since 2009, including some that have been criticized as unfair. She has also come under criticism for her increasingly hard-line leadership style. In the run-up to the last election in January, her government jailed thousands of opposition figures and won unopposed after rival parties boycotted the vote.

The Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the quota system and said it would rule on its legality on August 7. In her last public appearance on Wednesday, Hasina asked for “patience” and said she believed “our students will get justice from the court”.