Bangladesh Heads for Shutdown as Jobs Quota Protest Spreads
(Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh is heading for a shutdown of transport networks and businesses from Thursday, as student protesters pile pressure on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to abolish the government’s job quota system after demonstrations turned violent.
No establishments, except for hospitals and emergency services, will be open, and no vehicles are allowed on the roads, Asif Mahmud, one of the student protest organizers, said in a statement on Wednesday. The organizers called for all educational institutions to join in the protest after clashes with the police and government supporters on Tuesday left six dead and scores more injured.
Some shops were shuttered while a few buses and rickshaws were on the roads in the capital and metro trains were still operating. The US embassy in Dhaka said it was closed to the public on Thursday, warning the “situation is extremely volatile.” The Indian High Commission shut all its visa application centers across Bangladesh and asked its citizens to avoid travel.
The strikes are a response to the authorities closing all public and private universities as protests gained steam over government job quotes, which include a 30% allocation for family members of veterans from the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
For Hasina, who extended her grip on power for a fourth straight term in January elections, the protests are a major headache. A nationwide economic shutdown would distract her government as Bangladesh looks for funds from creditors and the International Monetary Fund to bolster its dwindling foreign-exchange reserves.
Speaking to the nation on Wednesday in a televised address, Hasina asked the students to have faith in the courts where a case against the quota system is being deliberated. She also vowed to punish the “criminals” responsible for the violence, saying a judicial committee will be formed to investigate the “anarchy.”
Law Minister Anisul Haq said there was a move to speed up the court proceedings on the quota system and the government was ready for talks with the student protest leaders.
“The discussion may happen even today, if the quota reformists want,” he told reporters in Dhaka.
The government tightened security across the country with paramilitary troops called in for duty together with the police.
Video footage posted on social media showed students from a private university in Dhaka clashing with the police and then moving on to block a major road. Members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing tried to drive protesters away from the roads in parts of Dhaka but with little success.
Protesters say the quota system has excluded new job seekers in favor of supporters of Hasina, whose party led the movement to separate from Pakistan. They want the system to be replaced with a merits-based one.
Government jobs are highly sought-after in Bangladesh and have taken more importance as the economy struggles to rebound after the pandemic and years of strong growth. The largely student-driven protests over the job quotas began last month but turned violent earlier this week and now the Bangladesh’s main opposition party is joining in on the demonstrations.
(Updates with Law Minister comment from paragraph 7)
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