Bangladesh students call for nationwide civil disobedience

Protesters walk past police personnel standing guard during a protest march demanding justice for victims arrested and killed in the recent countrywide violence in Dhaka on August 2, 2024. (Photo/Reuters)

Student leaders rallied Bangladeshis for a nationwide civil disobedience campaign as the government weathered a worsening backlash over a deadly police crackdown on protesters.

Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem last month that killed more than 200 people.

Troop deployments briefly restored order but crowds hit the streets in huge numbers after Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority nation, heeding a call by student leaders to press the government for more concessions.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organising the initial protests, urged their compatriots to launch an all-out non-cooperation movement from Sunday.

"This includes non-payment of taxes and utility bills, strikes by government workers and a halt to overseas remittance payments through banks," the group's Asif Mahmud told AFP.

Mahmud's fellow student leaders also said another round of nationwide rallies would be staged on Saturday.

Students are demanding a public apology from Hasina for last month's violence and the dismissal of several of her ministers.

They have also insisted that the government reopens schools and universities around the country, all of which were shuttered at the height of the unrest.

Crowds on the street have gone further, chanting demands for Hasina to leave office.

32 children killed

Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of a quota scheme —since scaled back by Bangladesh's top court — that reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups.

With around 18 million young Bangladeshis out of work, according to government figures, the move upset graduates facing an acute employment crisis.

Hasina's government eventually imposed a nationwide curfew, deployed troops and shut down the nation's mobile internet network for 11 days to restore order.

Foreign governments condemned the clampdown, with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell this week calling for an international probe into the "excessive and lethal force against protesters".

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters last weekend that security forces had operated with restraint but were "forced to open fire" to defend government buildings.

At least 32 children were among those killed last month, the UN said on Friday.

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Source: TRT