dpa
Dhaka
At least six people were killed and numerous others were injured in clashes between rival groups as student protests over reforms regarding quotas for public sector jobs flared across Bangladesh on Tuesday, police and protesters said.
Three of the victims died in the southern port city of Chattogram, more than 300km away from the capital Dhaka, while two were killed in Dhaka and one in the northern district of Rangpur, according to police, as the protesters locked in clashes with police and ruling party supporters in different places.
Tens of thousands of protesters blocked throughfares in the main cities and major highways on the countryside, causing severe tailbacks for hours. They also blocked railway tracks in Dhaka, putting the train communications on halt between the capital and other parts of the country.
Bangladesh’s job quota system reserves more than half of the civil service posts for specific groups like the wards of the 1971 war heroes, women, people in the impoverished districts, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
Students have been protesting nationwide for reforms in the quota system since early this month after a high court bench ordered reinstatement of the job quotas, which were abolished in 2018 in the face of massive student protest.
An appeal court, however, ordered a status quo on the job quotas until early next month, with the protesters asking the government to settle the issue once for all.
Fresh demonstrations flared up on different campuses, including at Dhaka University, on Sunday night, hours after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a news conference, turned down the students’ demands saying that she had nothing to do since the matter was pending with the court.
