Thousands of students armed with sticks and stones clashed with armed police in Bangladesh following days of violent confrontations local media say have killed at least 16 people.
The students were demonstrating in the country’s capital, Dhaka, over the way government jobs are allocated.
On Wednesday, the protesters announced they would enforce a “complete shutdown” across the country on Thursday in response to attacks on campus demonstrators.
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Bangladesh protest has ‘become a war’
Police fired tear gas to scatter protesters near the University of Dhaka campus, and some mobile internet services were cut in an attempt to limit the demonstrations.
Officers also fired tear gas to disperse stone-throwing students who blocked a main road in the southern port city of Chittagong.
Police fire tear gas at protesters in Dhaka. Pics: Reuters
Authorities shut all public and private universities indefinitely from Wednesday and sent riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to university campuses.
The nationwide protests have been fuelled by high unemployment among the youth. Nearly a fifth of Bangladesh’s 170 million population are out of work or education.
A police officer is surrounded by armed students in the capital. Pics: Reuters
The protesters want the state to stop setting aside 30% of government jobs for families of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
They argue the system favours allies of the country’s ruling party, which led the independence movement.
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What’s behind the Bangladesh protests?
‘Some precious lives have been lost unnecessarily’
Bangladesh’s law minister Anisul Huq said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had asked him to talk to the protesters.
Ms Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence and has so far rejected the protesters’ demands.
She said: “Some precious lives have been lost unnecessarily. I condemn every killing.”
Her government halted the quotas after previous mass student protests in 2018, but last month Bangladesh’s High Court ordered the quota to be reinstated, sparking the latest demonstrations.
The Supreme Court then suspended the High Court’s ruling, and Ms Hasina has urged students to be patient until the government’s appeal against the High Court verdict is heard on 7 August.
Rights groups including Amnesty International, along with the United Nations and the United States, have urged Bangladesh to protect peaceful protesters from violence.