Protesters Go Down To The Street, Bangladesh Is Back Concave, Police Fire Tear Gas

JAKARTA - Had subsided after massive protests on the job quota, protesters in Bangladesh are now returning to the streets.

Police fired tear gas and threw sound grenades on Wednesday, July 31, to disperse protesters demonstrating violence that killed 150 people.

The riots are the biggest test facing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 76, since she won her fourth consecutive term in elections last January which was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Party and was also undermined by deadly protests.

Police said they had to use repressive measures when protesters in the northeastern Sylhet district broke through the barricades to go to court.

"We asked the protesters to stay away from the street, but they didn't listen and instead attacked the police, forcing us to disperse them with tear gas and stun grenades," said deputy regional commissioner Azbahar Ali Sheikh.

Dhaka, the capital and port city in the south of Badminton are among several places where police and protesters clashed.

The number of victims is not yet known with certainty, although the media reported several people were injured, and several students were detained.

The action of "Pawai for Justice" which was held nationally today was called for by the Student Group Against Discrimination which was at the forefront of protests against the job quota regulated by the government.

Although students have agreed to drop their protests after the Supreme Court canceled most of the quota on July 21, they again staged demonstrations against the deaths, arrests, and intimidation of the government in violence that took place this month.

"We will also demand an UN investigation into the violence," said Mohammad Mahin Sarkar, coordinator of the movement.

International human rights groups have condemned nearly 10,000 arrests over the past two weeks on charges of involvement in clashes and the destruction of government property.

At an event in Dhaka, Hasina said Bangladesh had asked the United Nations and various international agencies for help.

"We ask for their help in carrying out the right investigation and ensuring punishment for those responsible," he said.

The European Union said it had postponed talks with Dhaka on a new cooperation pact to improve trade and economic relations and development due to the situation.

But an official from the Ministry of Finance said the delay, until the first week of November, had been decided long before the recent violence.

"This delay was due to the UN General Assembly," said the official, Uttam Kumar Karmaker.

In recent weeks, Bangladesh has cut off internet access and sent troops to impose a national curfew as protests spread since it began at universities and colleges in June.

Thousands of people were injured when security forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas, and threw sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who were flooding the streets.

The Hasina government also said it would ban major Islamic parties, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the wings of its students, both of which Dhaka blamed for the violence that occurred during the protests.

"For the sake of the state, this decision has been made," Law Minister Anisul Huq told Reuters.

Dhaka has formed a judicial investigation to investigate the violence as a whole.