Bangladeshi students protested again Monday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government ignored an ultimatum to secure the release of their leaders and an apology for those killed in recent unrest.
Several rallies took place in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh on Monday, but on a smaller scale than those seen earlier in the month.
Police used batons to disperse a protest in the suburbs of the city, arresting at least 20 people, the leading daily reported. Prothom Alo.
Security forces have been deployed heavily in Dhaka, a megacity of 20 million people, to prevent further gatherings.
Student protests against public sector job quotas have left at least 205 people dead, including several police officers, according to an AFP count based on police and hospital data.
The clashes were among the worst of Mr.me Hasina and her government have deployed the army, cut off internet access and imposed a curfew to restore order.
Thousands of arrests
At least six leaders of Students Against Discrimination, the group that organized the initial protests, have been arrested by police.
“The government continues to show total insensitivity towards our movement,” Abdul Kader, one of the movement’s coordinators, said in a statement on Monday.
“We call for protests across the country and ask all Bangladeshis to show solidarity with our demands and join our movement,” he added.
Students Against Discrimination had pledged to end a week-long moratorium on protests if police did not release their leaders by Sunday evening, July 28.
This group is demanding a public apology from Mr.me Hasina for the “massacre of students”, the dismissal of several ministers and the reopening of schools and universities closed at the height of the crisis.
At least 9,000 people have been arrested across Bangladesh since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo.
The army is still patrolling urban areas and a nationwide curfew remains in place but has been gradually eased since early last week.
Mobile internet was restored on Sunday, 11 days after a nationwide shutdown was imposed at the height of the unrest.
” Back to normal “
“The situation is returning to normal thanks to the adequate measures taken by the government and the population,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured in a statement on Sunday.
The government also declared a national day of mourning on Tuesday for those killed during the clashes.
The protests began after the reintroduction in June of a system reserving more than half of civil service jobs for certain candidates, including nearly a third for descendants of veterans of Bangladesh’s independence war.
With an estimated 18 million young Bangladeshis unemployed, according to government figures, the move has deeply hurt graduates.
Critics of these quotas say they aim to reserve positions in the civil service for those close to the Awami League, the Prime Minister’s party.
The Supreme Court reduced the number of these reserved jobs just over a week ago but did not respond to the protesters’ demand to completely eliminate this recruitment system.
Sheikh Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh continuously since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a non-contested vote.
His government is accused by human rights groups of using state institutions to consolidate its grip on power and stamp out dissent, including through extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.
Authorities have accused opposition parties of hijacking the protests to provoke unrest.
Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters on Sunday that security forces had acted with restraint but were “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.