Television news channels in Bangladesh went off the air, and phone services were widely disrupted on Friday due to violent student protests against government job quotas. Nearly 24 people have died this week in these protests.The government has not made an official statement yet.
AFP reported that the death toll from Thursday's violence had risen to 32. Reuters initially reported 13 deaths, adding to six earlier in the week, but couldn't verify the higher number.T
here was more violence on Friday, with police using tear gas to disperse protesters.
India's Economic Times reported that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government called in the army on Thursday to help maintain order, but Reuters couldn't confirm this independently.
The protests started because of anger over the controversial quota system for government jobs. However, tough economic conditions, like high inflation, rising unemployment, and decreasing foreign reserves, are also fueling the unrest.
The protests have reopened old political wounds between those who fought for Bangladesh's independence in 1971, including Hasina's Awami League, and those accused of collaborating with Pakistan. Hasina called the protesters "Razakar," a term used for collaborators.
Authorities cut some mobile services on Thursday to try to control the unrest, but the disruption spread across the country on Friday. Overseas phone calls and internet calls were mostly not connecting. Several Bangladeshi newspaper websites and social media accounts were not updating.
In Dhaka, only some voice calls were working. There was no mobile data or broadband, and even SMS texts were not going through. News TV channels, including the state broadcaster BTV, were off the air, while entertainment channels continued normally.
The streets of Dhaka were mostly empty on Friday, a weekly holiday. There was little traffic, few rickshaws, and small crowds near a market. A protest rally was planned at the main mosque later in the day.
The websites of the Bangladesh central bank, the prime minister's office, and the police appeared to have been hacked by a group called "THE R3SISTANC3." Their message said, "Stop Killing Students" and warned that the fight for justice had begun.
The protests are the biggest since Hasina's re-election earlier this year and are fueled by high youth unemployment. Protesters want the government to stop reserving 30% of government jobs for families of people who fought in the 1971 war of independence. Hasina's government scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a high court reinstated it last month. The government appealed, and the Supreme Court suspended the high court order until a hearing on August 7.
On Thursday, the government offered to hold talks with the protesters, but they refused, saying, "Discussions and opening fire do not go hand in hand."
Hundreds of people have been injured this week as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters, who torched vehicles and police posts. The worst protests happened at the capital's main university campus, but on Thursday, stronger demonstrations occurred in other parts of the city.
Bangladesh is also dealing with the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and received a $4.7 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in January 2023. The IMF completed a second review of the bailout program in June, providing Bangladesh with immediate access to about $928 million in loans for economic support and about $220 million to combat climate change.
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