Dhaka, July 16: More than 100 students were injured on Monday across Bangladesh in violent clashes over the quota system for government jobs, involving anti-quota protesters and ruling party supporters.
The demonstrations, the first major challenge for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since her re-election, saw thousands of protesters and Awami League student wing members hurling rocks and fighting with sticks and iron rods at universities nationwide, including in Dhaka.
The unrest began after the High Court ordered a restoration of 30% job quotas for descendants of freedom fighters. The Supreme Court suspended this order last week, but protests have continued, intensifying after Hasina refused to meet protesters’ demands, calling them ‘Razakar,’ a term for collaborators with Pakistan during the 1971 War of Independence.
“This is more than just a student movement,” said Nahid Islam, the anti-quota protest coordinator. “To suppress this movement, incitement from the highest levels of government has been made. So, common people have to come to the streets.”
Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud warned against turning the movement into an anti-state one, stating that the government would not tolerate instability.
Protesters plan to continue marches and rallies across the country to press their demands.