Bangladesh student protests turn deadly as demonstrators bring nation to standstill
- Protests against a civil service job quota system have spread across the country, with at least 32 people killed
Bangladeshi students set fire to the country’s state broadcaster on Thursday, as escalating clashes between pro-government forces, police and students protesting against a civil service job quota system spread across the country and led to at least 32 deaths, with thousands more injured.
Analysts say the protests are a reaction to long-term oppression by what many view as an authoritarian regime, exacerbated by the inability of the government to address an ongoing economic crisis and a lack of democratic avenues for change.
“This movement has emboldened people now,” Nasiruddin Elan, a prominent activist and director of the human rights organisation Odhikar, told This Week in Asia. “It has given them an outlet, which is why it has spread rapidly across the country in the blink of an eye. The fascist regime could not have imagined this. That’s why they are now using all their power to try to suppress these students.”
Thursday’s violence escalated when angry students set fire to state television network BTV’s headquarters in the capital Dhaka.
The incensed crowd set ablaze the network’s reception building and dozens of parked vehicles, Agence France-Presse reported.
