By Canadian Press

Bangladesh crawls back to normalcy after violent clashes that killed nearly 200 people

Jul 24, 2024 | 12:59 AM

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh was crawling back to normalcy with limited internet and office hours Wednesday after more than a week of chaos over student protests involving government job quotas. Nearly 200 deaths were reported in just over a week of violence.

Most of the country remained without internet, but thousands of cars were on the streets of the capital after authorities relaxed a curfew for seven hours.

Offices and banks opened for a few hours Wednesday while authorities restored broadband internet in some areas in Dhaka and the second-largest city of Chattogram.

Since July 16, at least 197 people have been killed in violence, the leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily reported Wednesday. The Associated Press could not confirm the death toll from any official sources.

Schools and other educational institutions have remained shut until further notice.

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Clashes have occurred since July 15 between the police and mainly student protesters demanding an end to a quota that reserved 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The chaos became deadly after the country’s main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and right wing Jamaat-e-Islami party extended their support to the protests. While violence spread across the country, many government establishments were also under attack in Dhaka.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered that 1971 war veterans’ quota to be cut to 5%. Thus, 93% of civil service jobs will be merit-based while the remaining 2% reserved for members of ethnic minorities as well as transgender and disabled people.

On Tuesday, the government issued a circular, accepting a Supreme Court verdict that reformed the quota system for the government jobs. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed the verdict and said it was ready to implement the verdict.

The protesters took time to respond to Sunday’s verdict, and on Tuesday they said that the Supreme Court verdict and the subsequent government circular were in favor of the protesters, but the government should answer for the bloodshed and deaths involving the protests.

The protests have posed the most serious challenge to Bangladesh’s government since Hasina won a fourth consecutive term in January elections that the main opposition groups boycotted. Universities have been closed, the internet has been shut off and the government has ordered people to stay at home.

Protesters had argued the quota system was discriminatory and benefited supporters of Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement, and wanted it replaced by a merit-based system. Hasina has defended the quota system, saying that veterans who fought, who died and the women who were raped and tortured in 1971 deserve the highest respect regardless of political affiliation.

The Awami League and the BNP have often accused each other of fueling political chaos and violence, most recently ahead of the country’s national election, which was marred by a crackdown on several opposition figures.

Julhas Alam, The Associated Press