Bangladesh Deploys Army, Issues Curfew Amid Deadly Protests

(Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped up efforts Friday to quell clashes between students and police that have killed dozens of people, according to local media.

The government has deployed the army to support local law enforcement agencies and issued a midnight curfew, Independent TV reported Friday, moves that come after a nationwide internet blackout, which isn’t related to an unprecedented global systems outage.

Student protesters angered by the government’s job quota policy earlier attempted to shut down transport networks and businesses after authorities closed all universities. 

AFP reported that at least 39 people have been killed in the clashes so far and the police in the capital Dhaka have banned all public rallies. The government hasn’t commented on reported death toll or the outages. 

There were reports of clashes in parts of Dhaka, with the internet shutdown affecting ATMs and mobile money companies. According to Somoy TV, the police have also detained Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior leader with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The protests pose a challenge to Hasina, who extended her grip on power for a fourth straight term in elections earlier this year. If the demonstrations continue, they could further slow the economy at a time when Bangladesh is seeking funds from creditors and the International Monetary Fund to bolster dwindling foreign-exchange reserves. 

The local police said the protesters have set fire to several government buildings including the state broadcaster, the national disaster management agency and a toll plaza. Hackers defaced the official Bangladesh police website with messages describing the protest as “a war for justice, for freedom, and for our future.”

“Situation in Bangladesh is fragile and worsening,” said Dr Smruti Pattanaik, senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies. “The administration should seriously pursue the offer of dialog with students and finally statements from politicians belittling students will not help the situation.”

The US, the biggest buyer of Bangladesh’s exports and a vocal critic of Hasina’s government, condemned the violence. 

“We need to make sure that any kind of freedom of expression is happening safely and people are free from violence,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington on Thursday. “That’s something we’re continuing to pay close attention to.”

Neighboring India described it as an “an internal matter for Bangladesh,” according to Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, who spoke to reporters on Friday. “We are aware that the government has taken some steps regarding the protests but we are in touch with our people there.”

The students’ frustrations have centered on a policy that sets aside 30% of government job openings for family members of veterans from the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, which critics say has been abused. The anger stems also from persistently high youth unemployment that stands at about 40%, according to the latest census. 

Hasina has sought to reassure the students, telling them to have faith in the courts while a case against the quota system is being deliberated. But she has also vowed to come down hard on those responsible for the violence, saying in a televised address on Wednesday that a judicial committee will investigate the turmoil. 

The Associated Press said the country’s Supreme Court will take up the jobs quota case on Sunday. The court had initially suspended a ruling by a lower court that reinstated the quota system, triggering the protests last month.

Protesters say the quota system has excluded new job seekers in favor of supporters of Hasina, whose party led the movement to separate from Pakistan. They want the system to be replaced with a merit-based one.

Government jobs are highly sought after in Bangladesh and have taken on greater importance as the economy struggles to rebound after the pandemic and years of strong growth. The largely student-driven protests turned violent earlier this week and Bangladesh’s main opposition party has joined in on the demonstrations. 

The government has deployed paramilitary troops in Dhaka to tighten security. “This is one the toughest challenges that Sheikh Hasina has ever faced. The streets are converging with discontent,” said Harsh Pant, a professor of International Relations at Kings College, London. “But, the opposition will not let this go and it depends on how she manages the opposition and street level anger coming together.”

(Updates from first paragraph to add new government measures)

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