Bangladeshi Students Protest Job Quota, Over 100 Injured

DHAKA: Over 100 students were injured in clashes between protesters demanding the abolition of job quotas and supporters of the ruling party, according to police and witnesses.

Reuters reports that the protests mark the first major demonstration faced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since winning a fourth consecutive term in January’s election.

Thousands of anti-quota demonstrators and members of the Awami League’s student wing threw stones and fought with sticks and metal rods at universities across the country, including Dhaka.

Police said injuries were reported at several campuses.

The protests began earlier this month after the High Court ordered the government to restore a 30 percent job quota for the descendants of freedom fighters. They continued despite the Bangladesh Supreme Court suspending the order for a month last week.

Protesters are calling for marches and rallies across the country to push their demands.

“This is more than just a student movement. To suppress this movement, incitement from the highest levels of government has been made. Therefore, ordinary people have had to take to the streets,” said Nahid Islam, coordinator of the anti-quota protests.

The protests intensified on Sunday night after Hasina refused to meet the students’ demands, stating that the issue is now in court.

Hasina said those opposing job quotas for the families of freedom fighters are ‘Razakars,’ who collaborated with the Pakistani military during the 1971 Liberation War.

Her comments led thousands of students to leave their dormitories at Dhaka University in the middle of the night to join the protests.

“Attempts are being made to turn the anti-quota movement into an anti-state movement by exploiting young students’ emotions,” said Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud.

“The government will not allow instability to develop,” he added.