Bangladesh: Student protests resume

Bangladeshi students protested again on 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 they were smaller than those seen earlier in the month.

Police used batons to break up a protest in the city's suburbs, arresting at least 20 people, the largest daily, Prothom Alo, wrote.

Security forces were deployed heavily in Dhaka, a megacity of 20 million people, to prevent further rallies.

Student protests against civil service job quotas have left at least 205 people dead, including several police officers, according to an AFP count based on police and hospital.

The clashes were among the worst in Hasina's 15-year rule, and her government has sought to restore order by deploying the military, cutting off internet access and imposing a curfew.

– “Mass arrests reported” –

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 coordinators of the movement, said in a statement on Monday.

“We are calling for protests across the country and we 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.

The group is demanding a public apology from Hasina for the “student massacre,” the dismissal of several ministers and the reopening of schools and universities closed at the height of the crisis.

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At least 9,000 people have been arrested across Bangladesh since the unrest began, according to Prothom Alo.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday he was “concerned by reported mass arrests” as well as “emerging reports of excessive use of force” by security agencies, according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

The military 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 blackout 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 Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The government also declared a national day of mourning on Tuesday for those killed in the clashes.

The protests began after the reintroduction in June of a system that reserves more than half of government jobs for certain candidates, including nearly a third for descendants of veterans of Bangladesh's war of independence.

With an estimated 18 million young Bangladeshis unemployed, according to government figures, the move has deeply upset graduates.

Critics of the quotas say they aim to reserve government jobs for supporters of the prime minister's Awami League party.

The Supreme Court reduced the number of these reserved jobs just over a week ago but stopped short of protesters' demands to scrap the system altogether. recruitment.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh without interruption since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a non-contested vote.

Her government has been 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.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters on Sunday that security forces had acted with restraint but had been “forced to open fire” to defend government buildings.

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