- Bangladesh is under high security alert as student protesters escalate movement which has now gone international.
- Protesters are calling for the abolishment of a system that reserves more than half of civil service jobs for specific groups
- Bangladeshi students have been on the streets for weeks on end since July 1, blocking roads and railways in demonstrations that have since turned violent, after an attack on protesters inside Dhaka University on July 15.
- The government has instated a major internet shutdown across Bangladesh, with schools and universities ordered to close
Bangladesh is under high security alert as student protesters escalate movement, with the State broadcaster being torched down on July 18, 2024.
The youth, armed with sticks, have been demonstrating on campuses and streets in Dhaka and other cities. The movement has attracted Bangladeshis worldwide, with similar movements being experienced in Sydney and New York.
The anti-quota protests, which have left dozens killed and hundreds injured, are calling for the abolishment of a system that reserves more than half of civil service jobs for specific groups. Thirty per cent of those positions are reserved for relatives of veterans of the Independence War against Pakistan in 1971.
Aggrieved Bangladeshi students have been on the streets for weeks on end since July 1, blocking roads and railways in demonstrations that have since turned violent, after an attack on protesters inside Dhaka University on July 15.
The protests mirror those of 2018, which forced the government to abolish the Quota system. The current protests come after a high court ruling reinstated the system in June, stating that its scrapping was unconstitutional.
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Students say the system is no longer logical and has become a tier system that establishes grounds for discrimination.
The Bangladeshi Government has responded to the protests by deploying its paramilitary force that was sanctioned in 2021, following widespread allegations of serious human rights violations.
Following the Dhaka attack that saw police use projectiles on university students, the protests, students say, have gone beyond the quota system and are now targeted at Prime Minister Hasina and her government.
The government has instated a major internet shutdown across Bangladesh, with schools and universities ordered to close. In response, protesters have called for a nationwide shutdown in a major challenge to the government.
