Photo: Rajib Dhar Associated Press Bangladeshi military forces patrol the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday July 20, 2024. Bangladeshi authorities extended the curfew to the entire country on Sunday, the day the country's highest court ruled on the hiring quotas in the public service.
France Media Agency to Dhaka
Published at 11:21 a.m. Updated at 11:37 a.m.
- Asia
The main group of students who launched the protests in Bangladesh announced on Sunday their intention to continue the movement to denounce recruitment quotas in the civil service despite the relaxation of the system announced by the Supreme Court.
The Bangladesh judiciary on Sunday revised downwards a controversial system of recruitment quotas in the civil service, without however abolishing it, after its reintroduction in June sparked clashes at the national scale, leaving 151 dead.
What began as a protest against recruitment quotas for highly prized public jobs, accused of favoring those close to those in power, led this week to the worst violence under the mandate of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in power for 15 years.
“We will not stop our demonstrations until the government has taken a decision taking into account our demands,” a spokesperson for the “Students Against Discrimination” association told AFP, under the guise of anonymity.
The demonstrations, almost daily since the beginning of July, initially had as their sole demand a reform of recruitment rules in the public service.
But with the toughening reaction of the police, who fired live ammunition on Saturday in the capital Dhaka, it is now the end of Ms. Hasina's mandate that tens of thousands of young people are demanding Bangladeshi.
Soldiers are patrolling several Bangladeshi cities after riot police failed to restore order, while a nationwide internet shutdown since Thursday has severely limited the flow of information to the outside world.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The Supreme Court was due to rule in August on the legality of the recently reintroduced program that reserves more than half of public jobs for selected candidates, but it brought forward its verdict with the intensification of violence between students and the police.
It deemed “illegal” the order issued in June by a lower court reintroducing the system of hiring quotas in the public sector, Bangladesh Attorney General A.M. Amin Uddin told AFP.
« Return to class”
Shah Monjurul Hoque, a lawyer involved in the case, told AFP that the court had also asked the protesting students “to return to class.” , after having rendered his verdict.
In its decision, the Court sharply reduced the number of reserved positions, which went from 56% to 7% of all positions.
It reserves 5% of all public jobs to the children of “freedom fighters” of Bangladesh's liberation war against Pakistan in 1971, up from 30%.
More 1 % of positions are reserved for tribal communities and 1% for persons with disabilities or who identify as a third gender under Bangladeshi law.
The remaining 93% of positions will now be awarded on merit, the Court ruled.
The category of “freedom fighters”, in particular, is causing discontent among young graduates, with critics claiming that 'it is used to award public jobs to loyalists of the Awami League, the ruling party.
Ms Hasina, whose government is accused by her opponents of bending the judiciary, had already suggested earlier this week that the court would rule in favour of the students' demands.
The 76-year-old prime minister has led the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January in a vote without any real opposition.
“Government resigns”
“This is not about students' rights anymore,” Hasibul Sheikh, a 24-year-old business owner, told AFP at a protest in the capital Dhaka on Saturday despite a nationwide curfew. country.
“Our demand is for one point only, namely the resignation of the government.”
Ms. Hasina's government is accused by human rights defenders of misusing state institutions to consolidate its influence and eradicate dissent, in particular through the extrajudicial assassination of opponents.
The Bangladeshi prime minister was due to leave the country on Sunday for a diplomatic tour of Spain and Brazil, but she canceled her plan due to the ongoing violence.
Curfew maintained
Police arrested several members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the leading formation of opposition, and Students Against Discrimination, the main group organizing the protests.
Bangladeshi Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP that the curfew imposed on Saturday would be maintained “until the situation improves”.
< p>In addition to the burning of government buildings and police stations by protesters, arson attacks have rendered the Dhaka metropolitan railway network unusable, he said.
The US State Department on Saturday advised Americans against traveling to Bangladesh and announced it would begin repatriating some diplomats and their families.