 "Bangladesh violence: How student protests grew into a mass movement against Sheikh Hasina")
Protests in Bangladesh that began as student-led demonstrations against the government job quota system have spiralled into violence, killing at least 300 people so far and sparking widespread calls for the premier to resign, according to NDTV.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the protesters who engaged in “sabotage” and destruction were no longer students but criminals.
As the renewed violence rages, here are several key dates spanning the protests posing a daunting challenge to the autocratic rule of the 76-year-old leader of the South Asian nation of about 170 million people.
July 1: Blockades begin
University students build barricades blocking roads and railway lines to demand reforms of a quota system for sought-after public sector job hires, as per AFP.
They say the scheme is used to stack the civil service with loyalists of Hasina’s ruling Awami League.
Hasina, who won a fifth term as prime minister in January after a vote without genuine opposition, says the students are “wasting their time.”
July 16: Violence intensifies
The first recorded deaths were six people, including three students, killed in clashes a day after bitter violence when protesters and pro-government supporters in Dhaka fought with sticks and hurled bricks at each other, the report said.
Tens of thousands of students joined the protests after more than 100 people were injured on July 15 in rallies that blocked major highways and rail links, as per Reuters.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRiot police fanned out at university campuses across the country to quell disturbances.
Hasina’s government orders the nationwide closure of schools and universities.
Announcing a judicial investigation, she assured the families of those killed of her full support, as per Reuters.
“I believe our students will get justice. They will not be disappointed,” she had said in an address to the nation.
Meanwhile, the United States calls on Bangladesh to uphold the right to peaceful protest amid demonstrations in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
“We condemn any violence against peaceful protesters. We’ve been watching this matter very closely, both from our embassy and officials here in Washington. (We) have been monitoring the protests, and have seen reports of people dying, or being killed in the protests. And we again, call on the government to uphold individual’s rights to protest peacefully,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.
July 18: PM rebuffed
Students reject an olive branch from Hasina, a day after she appeals for calm and vows that every “murder” in the protests would be punished.
Protesters chant “down with the dictator” and torch the headquarters of state broadcaster Bangladesh Television and dozens of other government buildings.
Authorities cut some mobile internet services to try to quell the unrest.
At least 32 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes, which continue in the following days despite a round-the-clock curfew and the deployment of soldiers.
The people who died on Thursday included a bus driver who was brought to a hospital with a bullet wound to his chest, a rickshaw-puller and three students, officials told Reuters.
The US State Department said on Saturday, July 20, that it has raised Bangladesh’s travel advisory to level four, which urges people to not travel to the Asian country due to what Washington described as “civil unrest” amid ongoing protests.
July 21: Supreme Court verdict
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court, seen by critics as a rubber stamp for the will of Hasina’s government, scrapped most quotas on government jobs after the nationwide protests.
Dismissing a lower court order, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division directed that 93 per cent of government jobs should be open to candidates on merit, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told Reuters.
But its verdict falls short of protester demands to entirely abolish job reservations for children of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
Hasina’s government had scrapped the quota system in 2018, but a High Court reinstated it last month. The government appealed against the verdict and the Supreme Court suspended the High Court order, pending a hearing of the government’s appeal on August 7.
Restrictions were eased for two hours on Sunday to allow people to shop for supplies.
Late on Sunday, protesters gave the government 48 hours to meet a string of new demands, which included a public apology from Hasina for the violence, restoration of internet connections and reopening of campuses.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement also called for the resignation of some ministers and university officials and the dismissal of police officers deployed in the areas where students were killed, according to Reuters.
“We are giving an ultimatum to the government to fulfil our eight-point demand within 48 hours,” one of the Movement’s leaders, Hasnat Abdullah, told reporters.
July 22: Hasina blames opposition
A day after the top court’s ruling to scrap most quotas, Bangladesh PM Hasina blames her political opponents for the deadly violence.
“When arson terrorism started, the protesting students said they were not involved in it,” Hasina said in an address to business leaders in Dhaka.
These were her first comments since her government ordered a curfew late on July 19, Friday.
“We were forced to impose a curfew to protect the lives and property of the citizens. I never wanted it,” she said. “We will lift the curfew whenever the situation gets better.”
On Tuesday, July 23, the government accepts the Supreme Court ruling, meeting a key demand of students after the country’s deadliest protests in years.
July 23: Easing curfew
Factories, offices and banks reopened in the country on Wednesday after the nationwide curfew enforced by the army was eased.
Rush-hour traffic returns to Dhaka and broadband internet is largely restored, although social media continues to be suspended after student-led protests turned violent.
The garment and textile industries, which supply major Western brands, began reopening factories. The stock exchange opened too, as did banks, after remaining shut for the past two days. News websites, which had stopped updating since Friday, were back online.
July 28: Internet services restored
Bangladesh restores internet services as conditions return to normal after student protests are called off.
“The broadband and mobile internet connectivity has been restored with full functionality by now,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
July 31: March for Justice
People in the northeastern district of Sylhet break through barricades to demonstrate against the excessive use of force by authorities during protests early in July that left at least 150 dead, as per Reuters.
Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse demonstrators.
The “March for Justice” was called by the Students Against Discrimination group, which was at the forefront of protests against quotas in government jobs.
Although the students agreed to halt their protest after the Supreme Court scrapped most quotas on July 21, they returned to the streets to call out the dozens of deaths, arrests, and government intimidation.
International rights groups have condemned close to 10,000 arrests over the past two weeks on charges of involvement in clashes and destruction of government property.
August 2: Calls for PM’s resignation
At least 20 people were injured in clashes and police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds as thousands protested in the capital and other parts of the country on Friday, calling on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
Scores of youths march in Dhaka with chants of “we want justice” and wave anti-government banners.
Elsewhere in the country, buildings, including a district office of the ruling Awami League party, are set ablaze, a police booth is set on fire, and armoured vehicles vandalise during demonstrations.
“People make mistakes. If she (Hasina) would have apologised, everything would be back to normal. If she cannot control it, things will keep heating up,” said Syed Sadman, a student, at a protest in Dhaka.
August 4: The Army stands with the people
Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi protesters clash again with government supporters on Sunday.
Demonstrators blocked major highways as student protesters launched a non-cooperation programme to press for the government’s resignation, and violence spread nationwide.
Police say at least 14 officers are among the 91 killed.
But in a stiff rebuke to Hasina, influential ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan calls on the government to withdraw troops from the streets and condemns “egregious killings.”
That followed comments by current army chief Waker-uz-Zaman, who said the armed forces “always stood by the people,” without giving more details, according to AFP.
Leaders of the nationwide civil disobedience campaign call on supporters to march on the capital, Dhaka, on Monday for a “final protest.”
The government declares an indefinite nationwide curfew starting at 6 pm (1200 GMT) on Sunday.
It also announced a three-day general holiday starting on Monday, as per Reuters.
“Those who are carrying out violence are not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation,” Hasina said after a national security panel meeting.
With inputs from agencies
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