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Agence France-Presse

Bangladeshi students held scattered street protests on Monday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government ignored an ultimatum to release their leaders and apologise for those killed in deadly unrest.
Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people, including several police officers, according to police and hospital data.
The clashes were some of the worst of Hasina’s 15-year tenure, but her government has since largely restored order by deploying troops, imposing a curfew and shutting down the internet nationwide.
At least half a dozen leaders of Students Against Discrimination, the group that organised the initial protests, are among thousands since taken into police custody.
“The government is continuing to show complete and utter insensitivity to our movement,” Abdul Kader, one of the group’s coordinators, said in a statement.
“We are requesting all citizens of Bangladesh to show solidarity with our demands and join in our movement.”
Several protests were staged in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh on Monday, but they were only a fraction of the size of those seen earlier in the month.
Police charged with batons to break up one protest on Dhaka’s outskirts, arresting at least 20 people, newspaper Prothom Alo reported.
Security forces were deployed widely elsewhere in the teeming megacity of 20 million to deter other demonstrations.
Students Against Discrimination leaders had vowed to end a week-long moratorium on new demonstrations if police failed to release their leaders by Sunday evening.

The group’s demands also include a public apology from Hasina for the violence, the dismissal of several of her ministers, and the reopening of schools and universities around the country that were closed at the height of the unrest.
At least 9,000 people have been arrested nationwide since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo.
Troops are still patrolling urban areas and a nationwide curfew remains in force, but it has been progressively eased since the start of last week.
Bangladesh’s mobile internet network was restored on Sunday, 11 days after a nationwide blackout imposed at the height of the unrest, in another sign of the government’s confidence that it was in control of the situation.
“The situation is turning back to normalcy thanks to the timely and appropriate measures taken by the government and the people,” the foreign ministry said in a Sunday statement.
Hasina’s government also declared a day of national mourning on Tuesday for those who were killed during the unrest.
Protests began this month over the reintroduction of a quota scheme, reserving more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.


With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.
Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to the ruling Awami League.
The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs last week but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Protests had remained largely peaceful until attacks on demonstrators by police and pro-government student groups.
The government has accused opposition parties of hijacking the protests to cause unrest.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters Sunday that security forces had operated with restraint, but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.


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Bangladesh

Bangladesh protests resume after government ignores ultimatum to release leaders, apologise

People take part in a protest march against the mass arrest and killing of protesters during last week’s violence amid anti-qouta protests, in Dhaka on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh Nationalist Party Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi (centre), arrested in connection with the violence during student protests, is escorted to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sunday. EPA-EFE

Bangladesh student protests turn deadly as demonstrators bring nation to standstill

Police detains a man who was not leaving the University of Dhaka premises, a day after the clash between Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling party Bangladesh Awami League, and anti-quota protesters, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 17, 2024. Photo: Reuters

Anti-quota supporters clash with police and Awami League supporters at the Rampura area in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 18. Photo: Reuters

Students protesting against quotas in government jobs offer prayers over symbolic coffins of victims, a day after they died in a clash with police personnel, during an absentee funeral prayer ceremony at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

Students wearing headbands with Bangladesh’s national flag shout slogans during a protest at Dhaka University on July 17. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh student leaders order 48-hour halt to protests over death toll: ‘so much blood’

Photo: Reuters

Nahid Islam, a top leader of the main protest organiser Students Against Discrimination, suspended protests on Monday for 48 hours. Photo: AFP

Students beat a policeman with sticks during a protest over a controversial quota system for government job applicants, in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 18. Photo: AP

Bangladesh army personnel stand guard near parliament house amid a curfew following clashes between police and protestors, in Dhaka. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh students vow to resume protests unless leaders freed

People protest against the mass arrest and killing of protesters during last week’s violence amid anti-qouta protests, in Dhaka. Photo: AFP

Relatives of suspects arrested in connection with the violence during student protests, look at the arrestees in a police vehicle. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bangladesh army stand guard near the country’s secretariat as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests. Photo: AFP

Bangladesh faces demand for justice over ‘unlawful killings’ during student protests

Protesters clash with Border Guard Bangladesh and the police outside the state-owned Bangladesh Television as violence erupts across the country after anti-quota protests by students, in Dhaka. Photo: Reuters

A woman cries after receiving the remains of her son, who was shot during clashes between the police and anti-job quota protesters, at a morgue in Dhaka on July 22. Photo: AP

Members of Bangladesh Army patrol on the second day of curfew on July 21 in Dhaka as violence erupted in parts of the country after student protests against government job quotas. Photo: Reuters

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reviews an honour guard at the Government House in Bangkok, during her visit to Thailand in April. Photo: Reuters

Members of the leftist students organisations march in a protest rally in Kolkata, India, on July 25 in solidarity with protesting students in Bangladesh. Photo: AP

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Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people


Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people.


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Bangladesh protests resume after government ignores ultimatum to release leaders, apologise

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people

Student rallies against civil service job quotas this month sparked days of violence that killed at least 205 people