Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits a vandalized metro rail station at Mirpur 10, in Dhaka.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wept on July 25 as she surveyed the destruction wrought by days of deadly unrest, as student leaders weighed the future of the protests that sparked the disorder.

Last week’s violence killed at least 193 people, including several police officers, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in one of the biggest upheavals of Ms. Hasina’s 15-year tenure.

The unrest was precipitated by protests against a public jobs quota scheme that critics say gives preference to allies of Ms. Hasina’s ruling party.

Thousands of troops are still patrolling cities and a nationwide internet shutdown remains largely in effect, although clashes have subsided since protest leaders announced a temporary halt to new demonstrations.

Ms. Hasina, 76, spent the morning surveying destruction in the capital Dhaka, where the commuter rail network connecting the sprawling megacity of 20 million people was shut down after mob attacks.

“Over 15 years, I’ve built this country,” she told reporters, condemning protesters for damaging city infrastructure. “What didn’t I do for the people?

“Who has benefitted from what we have done?” she said. “Do I ride on the metro? Does the government only ride? Do our ministers only ride? Or is it in fact the general public that rides?”

Pictures released by Hasina’s office showed her flanked by an entourage and weeping at the sight of a vandalised metro station in an outlying Dhaka suburb.

The station was among several government buildings and dozens of police posts torched or vandalised during the unrest.

With calm returning to cities around Bangladesh, Ms. Hasina’s government ordered another relaxation to the curfew it imposed at the weekend to allow free movement between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Streets in Dhaka were choked with commuter traffic in the morning, days after ferocious clashes between police and protesters had left them almost deserted.

Banks, government offices and Bangladesh’s economically vital garment factories reopened on July 24 after they were closed last week.

Student leaders were set to meet later on July 25 to decide whether to again extend their protest moratorium, which is due to expire on July 26.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising this month’s rallies, said it expected the government to make some concessions.

“We demand an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the nation for the mass murder of students,” Asif Mahmud, one of the group’s coordinators, told AFP.

“We also want the sacking of the home minister and education minister.”

Youth jobs crisis

Police told AFP they had arrested at least 4,000 people since last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

U.N. rights chief Volker Turk urged Bangladesh to conduct “an impartial, independent and transparent investigation” into the violence.

“We understand that many people were subjected to violent attacks by groups reportedly affiliated with the Government, and no effort was made to protect them,” he said in a statement.

Protests began after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates, including nearly a third for descendants of veterans from Bangladesh’s independence war.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Ms. Hasina’s Awami League.

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on July 21 but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Ms. Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Dhaka, Bangladesh:

Garment factories and banks reopened in Bangladesh Wednesday after authorities eased a curfew imposed to contain deadly clashes sparked by student protests over civil service employment quotas.

Last week’s violence killed at least 186 people, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, during some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.

Thousands of troops are patrolling cities around the South Asian country to keep order, and most Bangladeshis remain without internet nearly a week after a nationwide shutdown was imposed.

But with calm returning to the streets after several days of unbridled mayhem, the country’s economically vital textile factories resumed operations after government clearance.

“We were worried about the future of our company,” 40-year-old factory worker Khatun, who gave only one name, told AFP.

Despite the disruption, Khatun said she supported the demands of student protesters to reform government hiring rules and was shocked by last week’s violence.

“The government should implement all their demands,” she said. “A lot of them were killed. They sacrificed for future generations.”

The garment industry generates $50 billion in yearly export revenue for Bangladesh, employing millions of young women to sew clothes for H&M, Zara, Gap and other leading international brands.

A spokesperson for the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association told AFP that garment factories had resumed business “across the country”.

Hasina’s home minister Asaduzzaman Khan agreed to exempt textile workers from an ongoing curfew to allow them to return to work, the peak body’s spokesman said.

The curfew was eased Wednesday to allow some commerce to resume but remains in effect for most Bangladeshis for 19 hours each day.

Banks, the stock exchange in the capital Dhaka, and some government offices also opened between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm to match the daily break in the stay-home order, government spokesman Shibli Sadiq told AFP.

‘So much blood’ 

The student group which led this month’s protests has suspended demonstrations until at least Friday, with one leader saying they had not wanted reform “at the expense of so much blood”.

Police have arrested at least 2,500 people since the violence began last week.

Hasina’s government says the stay-home order will be relaxed further as the situation improves.

Broadband internet was being gradually restored on Tuesday evening but mobile internet — a key communication method for protest organisers — remained inoperative.

Internet connectivity across Bangladesh was still around 20 percent of normal levels, according to data published by US-based monitor Netblocks.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the June reintroduction of the quota scheme — halted since 2018 — deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina’s Awami League.

The Supreme Court on Sunday cut the number of reserved jobs but fell short of protesters’ demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Students clash with police during a protest over the quota system in public service, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on July 21scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that have sparked student-led protests in which at least 114 people have been killed, local media reported.

The court’s Appellate Division dismissed a lower court order that had reinstated the quotas, directing that 93% of government jobs will be open to candidates on merit, without quotas, the reports said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government had scrapped the quota system in 2018, but the lower court reinstated it last month, sparking the protests and an ensuring government crackdown.

It was not immediately clear how the protesters would react to the decision.

The government had extended a curfew as authorities braced for the Supreme Court hearing on the job quotas. Soldiers were on patrol on the streets of capital Dhaka, the centre of the demonstrations that spiralled into clashes between protesters and security forces.

Internet and SMS message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off as police cracked down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings.

The curfew was extended to 3 p.m. (0900 GMT) and was to continue for an “uncertain time” following a two-hour break for people to gather supplies, local media reported.

Reuters could not immediately determine what would happen to the curfew after the ruling.

A member of the Bangladesh Army checks bags of women during a curfew imposed in response to student-led protests against government job quotas, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Bangladesh extended a curfew on July 21 to control violent student-led protests that have killed at least 114 people, as authorities braced for a Supreme Court hearing later in the day on government job quotas that sparked the anger.

Soldiers have been on patrol on the streets of capital Dhaka, the centre of the demonstrations that spiralled into clashes between protesters and security forces.

Internet and text message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off as police cracked down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings.

A curfew ordered late on Friday has been extended to 3 p.m. (0900 GMT) on July 21, until after the Supreme Court hearing, and will continue for an “uncertain time” following a two-hour break for people to gather supplies, local media reported.

Universities and colleges have also been closed since Wednesday.

Nationwide unrest broke out following student anger against quotas for government jobs that included reserving 30% for the families of those who fought for independence from Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government had scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a court reinstated it last month.

The Supreme Court suspended the decision after a government appeal and will hear the case on Sunday after agreeing to bring forward a hearing scheduled for Aug. 7.

The demonstrations — the biggest since Hasina was re-elected for a fourth successive term this year — have also been fuelled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of the population.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday raised its travel advisory for Bangladesh to level four, urging American citizens to not travel to the South Asian country.

People roam on the street after curfew has been proclaimed and army deployment in the country, as violence erupts following anti-quota protests, in Dhaka, on July 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The United States has recommended that its citizens not travel to Bangladesh and allowed the voluntary departure of its non-emergency government employees and family members in light of the ongoing civil unrest in the South Asian country.

The development comes just a day after the U.S. issued a new travel advisory for Bangladesh, urging Americans to reconsider travelling to the country.

Authorities in Bangladesh imposed a strict curfew across the country and military personnel patrolled parts of the capital to quell further violence after days of clashes over the allocation of government jobs left more than 40 people dead and hundreds injured.

The US Department of State raised the Travel Advisory Level for Bangladesh to Level 4 — ‘Do Not Travel’.

“Do not travel to Bangladesh due to civil unrest, crime, and terrorism,” the State Department said, adding, “The department allowed for the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees and family members.”

“The Government of Bangladesh has declared a curfew throughout Bangladesh, ordering everyone to stay indoors. The Bangladeshi Army has been deployed throughout the country to reinforce the police. Telecommunications have been interrupted in Dhaka and across the country. Due to the security situation, there may be a delay in provision of routine consular services,” the advisory stated.

U.S.’s new advisory

The U.S. State Department said crimes such as muggings, burglaries, assaults, and illegal drug trafficking constitute the majority of criminal activity in Bangladesh’s major cities, but there are no indications foreigners are being targeted because of their nationality. These crimes tend to be situational, based on time and location, it said.

The advisory said attacks can happen with little or no warning, with terrorists targeting public areas such as tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, restaurants, places of worship, school campuses, and government facilities.

Because of the security concerns, the U.S. Embassy personnel in Bangladesh are subject to some movement and travel restrictions.

The U.S. government may have limited ability to provide emergency services to its citizens in Bangladesh due to these travel restrictions, a lack of infrastructure and limited host government emergency response resources, it said.

The department asked U.S. nationals to take certain precautions, such as avoiding demonstrations and political gatherings, monitoring local media for breaking events and being prepared to adjust plans, in case they decide to travel to Bangladesh.

“Do not physically resist any robbery attempt. Get to a safe area and report any criminal incident to local authorities. Enrol in the Smart Traveller Enrolment Program to receive alerts including updates on consular services so that it is easier to locate you in an emergency,” the other recommendations from the State Department stated.

Bangladesh soldiers stand guard along the road following a curfew and the deployment of military forces in Dhaka on July 20, 2024, after days of clashes during protests against government job quotas across the country. Soldiers were out in force on July 20 in cities around Bangladesh after another day of lethal clashes between student protesters and police prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to cancel foreign visits.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Bangladesh soldiers patrolled Dhaka’s deserted streets on July 20 amid a curfew to quell deadly students-led protests against government job quotas that have killed more than 100 people this week.

A suspension on internet and text message services has remained in place since July 18, cutting off Bangladesh from the world as police cracked down on protests that have continued despite a ban on public gatherings.

The violent clashes have killed at least 105 people and injured thousands this week, according to data from hospitals across Bangladesh. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital received 27 dead bodies on Friday between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The nationwide unrest initially broke out over student anger against new quotas for government jobs, including 30% for the families of those who fought for independence from Pakistan.

That measure has opened old and sensitive political fault lines between those who fought for Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 and those accused of collaborating with Islamabad.

Over the past five days, police have fired tear gas and hurled sound grenades to scatter protesters during the nationwide unrest, as demonstrators clashed with security personnel, throwing bricks and setting fire to vehicles.

With the death toll climbing and police unable to contain the violent protests, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on Friday imposed a national curfew and deployed the military.

The curfew will ease for two hours from 12 p.m. on July 20 to allow people to shop for supplies and complete other chores, TV channels reported.

The curfew will last until 10 a.m. on July 21 at which point the government will assess the situation and decide the next course of action, the reports added.

The demonstrations — the biggest since Hasina was re-elected for a fourth successive term this year — have also been fuelled by high unemployment among young people, who make up nearly a fifth of a population of 170 million.

International rights groups have criticised the internet suspension and actions of security forces. The European Union said it is deeply concerned by the violence and loss of life.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on July 19 announced a nationwide curfew across Bangladesh and ordered the deployment of military forces to maintain order following days of deadly clashes over the allocation of government jobs.

The announcement was made by Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party, and came after police and security officials fired on protesters on Friday and banned all gatherings in the capital. Several people were killed, media reports said.

Mr. Quader said the military was deployed to help the civilian administration keep order.