Bangladesh PM vows justice for 6 killed in student protests
July 17, 2024
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday vowed to punish those responsible for the deaths of six people, including anti-government protesters, after student protests saw campuses shutter around the country.
Six people were killed in clashes between police and protesters on Tuesday, which was the most violent day so far in weeks of protests regarding public sector job quotas for the children of freedom fighters who fought in the 1971 War of Independence.
"I firmly declare that those who carried out murders, looting and violence — whoever they are — I will make sure they will be given the appropriate punishment," Hasina said in a televised address.
Three of the victims died in the southern port city of Chittagong, more than 300 kilometers from the capital Dhaka, while two were killed in Dhaka and one in the northern district of Rangpur, police said.
On Wednesday, students in Dhaka marched with empty coffins to mourn the dead and chanted: "We will not let our brothers' blood go in vain."
Police broke up the public funeral by firing rubber bullets and tear gas against the students.
"Police attacked us with tear gas and stun grenades just when we had started," protest leader Nahid Islam told the AFP news agency.
Universities closed indefinitely
In response to the six deaths, authorities ordered all universities and schools across the country to remain closed indefinitely from Wednesday.
Education Ministry spokesman M. A. Khair told AFP news agency the shutdown order was issued for "the security of the students."
Authorities deployed the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in five major cities, including Dhaka and Chittagong, as protesters blocked some of the country's main highways.
What triggered the protests?
Protests erupted two weeks ago on university campuses as students demonstrated against civil service hiring policies.
The protesters want an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan, women, people in impoverished districts, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
Critics say the system benefits children of pro-government groups that support Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote with no real opposition.
Earlier this month, a Supreme Court bench ordered the reintroduction of job quotas, which were scrapped in 2018 in the face of massive student protests.
However, an appeals court ordered a status quo on job quotas until early next month. The protesters called on the government to resolve the issue once and for all.
How is the world reacting to the protests?
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Bangladesh government "to protect the demonstrators against any form of threat or violence," according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
"It is a fundamental human right to be able to demonstrate peacefully and government should protect those rights," Guterres said, according to the spokesman.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International urged Bangladesh to "immediately guarantee the safety of all peaceful protesters."
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also condemned the "violence against peaceful protesters," prompting a rebuke from Bangladesh's foreign ministry.
zc, dh/lo (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)