At least two people died and thousands were injured after police fired teargas into crowds of protesting students, and paramilitary forces were deployed across the country.
Protests first broke out on university campuses across Bangladesh a fortnight ago as tens of thousands of students demanded an end to “unreasonable and discriminatory quotas” for government jobs.
The quotas – which reserve 30% of jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 – were abolished in 2018 but reinstated this month after a court order.
The reintroduction of the quotas provoked fury among students, who say the job market in Bangladesh is already extremely tough amid high unemployment, heavy inflation and a flailing economy. With the private sector diminishing, government jobs have become the most secure and sought-after form of employment yet are heavily restricted, with 50% allocated through quotas.
The new ruling on quotas was paused by the supreme court last week, but students said they would continue protesting until they were permanently overturned. Many blocked highways and railways and broke through police barriers to stage demonstrations across the congested capital, Dhaka.
On Monday night, the protests turned violent as police and heavily armed members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of the governing Awami League party, attacked the protesting students.
In Dhaka, police fired teargas and charged at the protesters with batons while pro-government groups attacked them with machetes, bamboo rods and hockey sticks, injuring thousands. Paramilitary forces were also deployed across the country.
The violence continued to escalate on Tuesday as campuses across the country became battlegrounds, with at least two deaths confirmed by the Guardian. Local media reported that five people have been killed.
In the city of Rangpur, Abu Sayeed, a student involved in the protests, sustained fatal injuries, while another man caught up in the violence at Dhaka college was dead on arrival at hospital.
The situation was further inflamed by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who referred to the students protesting using the derogatory slur “Razakars”, meaning those who betrayed the nation by collaborating with the enemy, Pakistan, during the war of independence in 1971.
“If the grandchildren of freedom fighters don’t receive quota benefits, should the grandchildren of Razakars?” Hasina said.
Her comment angered student protesters, who accused Hasina of authoritarianism. “We are not Razakars. If anyone fits that description in this context, it is the prime minister herself and her forces who are steering this country toward a dark era,” said Rakib, 17, a student at Dhaka City College who took part in the protests.
Rakib emphasised the students were not opposed to all quotas, especially for the underprivileged, but said the current system was “profoundly unfair and discriminatory” and meant few government jobs were given on the basis of merit.
“We are fortunate to have been born in an independent country and are eternally grateful to the freedom fighters,” he said. “Yet, this does not justify granting their descendants endless, undue advantages generation after generation.”
Lamiya, a student at Dhaka’s Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College, joined the protests despite her family benefiting from the system. “I am the granddaughter of a freedom fighter, yet I oppose the quota system,” she said.
“I support this movement because my friends, many from lower to lower-middle class backgrounds, have striven for excellence in their education and aspire to serve the country. Students outside the quota categories are not any less patriotic or meritorious.”
Political analysts said the current wave of protests was a direct response to prolonged repression under the authoritarian regime of Hasina and her Awami League party, who have ruled consecutively since 2009. In January, Hasina won a fifth term in power after an election that was widely documented as rigged, with tens of thousands of her political opponents jailed.
Many protesting students said that those in Hasina’s Awami League party, which was founded by her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – who fought for independence and was the country’s first prime minister – were the primary beneficiaries of quotas for freedom fighter descendants.
Zahed Ur Rahman, a Dhaka-based political analyst, said that the protests had been fuelled by student anger at soaring inflation, a grossly ignored unemployment crisis and frustrations at the crackdown on basic democratic freedoms under Hasina.
“The Awami League had fostered an environment of fear, silencing dissent with overt force from government mechanisms,” said Rahman. “However, this repression has now backfired, and even teenage students are openly challenging the authorities.”
Amnesty International was among those that condemned the attacks on the students, calling on the government to respect “people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”.
The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said the US was closely monitoring the protests. “The freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are essential building blocks of any thriving democracy, and we condemn any violence against peaceful protesters,” said Miller.