Bangladesh: Over 60, including 13 policemen, killed in renewed protest
After a lull of about a week, students protest in Bangladesh capital and other parts of the country reignited with the death of at least 52 people and 13 policemen
[Image posted on X by Al Jazeera English.]
Dhaka: After a lull of about a week, students protest in Bangladesh capital and other parts of the country reignited with the death of at least 52 people and 13 policemen.
The deaths were reported by the police and doctors on Sunday in Dhaka and the northern districts of Bangladesh including Bogura, Pabna and Rangpur, as well as in Magura in the west, Comilla in the east, and Barisal and Feni in the south.
Citing police sources, Dhaka Tribune reported that some individuals attacked a police station in the district of Sirajganj Sundy afternoon. They entered the station, committed acts of vandalism and set fires, and later hacked to death 13 policemen.
Anti-government protests in Bangladesh sparked in the country last month with the students’ organizations and rights bodies demanding review of the quota system or reservation in the public sector jobs.
The protesters are demanding reforms in the 1971 law which provides reservation in government and civil services jobs.
As per the law, 50% of the government jobs would be filled not based on merit but through affirmative action favoring women and residents of less developed areas.
The most controversial section of this quota system is that 30% of civil service positions and public sector jobs are reserved for the relatives of those who fought for Bangladesh's independence in 1971 and are called war heroes.
The anti-government protests in Bangladesh last month had killed more than 200 people. Peace prevailed in the country after a court's ruling on the matter.
"Civil Disobedience Movement"
The students re-started their protest Stureday, declaring a campaign of civil disobedience and demanding resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina said those who were engaging in the “sabotage” and the destruction in the name of protests were no longer students, but criminals, and said the people should deal with them with iron hands.
Meanwhile, students ‘March to Dhaka’ protest has been moved from Tuesday to Monday, a coordinator for the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ASD) told Al Jazeera.
“This means we are urging students and the public nationwide to start their journey to Dhaka tomorrow to lay siege to the city,” the coordinator, Asif Mahmud, said.
In the wake of the march of the students and renewed protests, authorities have again blocked internet access and imposed a shoot-on-sight curfew.
At least 11,000 people, a large number of them students, have been arrested in recent weeks.
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