Bangladeshi Government Investigate Murder In Student Bloody Demonstration Protests Work Quota

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina/PHOTO via X @Sheikh_Hasinaa

JAKARTA - Police in Bangladesh fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse students protesting the government's working quota system, a day after fierce clashes that killed six people and injured dozens.

Authorities also announced an indefinite closure of all state and private universities starting Wednesday, July 17, following protests against the public sector's job quota, which includes 30 percent reservations for members of the fighter family from the 1971 Pakistan War of Independence.

Later, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the government would form a judicial committee to investigate the killings.

The violence on Wednesday came after security forces were deployed outside the campus of Dhaka University as students chanted: "We will not allow the blood of our brothers and sisters to be in vain".

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and threw sound grenades at students as they lined up in a procession carrying coffins in solidarity with those killed, said protest coordinator Nahid Islam.

Job quotas have angered students facing the high unemployment rate of young people, with nearly 32 million Bangladeshi youths not working or attending school out of a total population of 170 million people.

Demonstrations increased after Prime Minister Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan, refused to comply with the demands of the protesters.

The protests turned violent this week as thousands of anti-coup protesters clashed with student wing members from the ruling Awami League party across the country. Six people, including at least three students, were killed in clashes on Tuesday, police said.