Violence over govt jobs quota protests kills four people in Bangladesh

Dhaka: At least four people, including three students, were killed and more than 100 others injured on Tuesday as protesters demanding reforms of the quota system in government jobs clashed with police in major cities in Bangladesh.

The authorities on Tuesday called out the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops in four major cities after hundreds of policemen in riot gear overnight fanned out in public university campuses across the country.

The clashes erupted on Monday as activists of the ruling Awami League’s student front confronted the protestors who insist the existing quota system was largely debarring the enrolment of meritorious students in government services.

According to media reports, the violence killed a university student in northeastern Rangpur, one in the capital Dhaka and two people in southeastern Chattogram, one being a student and another a pedestrian.

The protestors blockaded highways and railway routes in four major cities of central Dhaka, northwestern Rajshahi, southwestern Khulna and the major port city Chattogram.

Students of the premier Dhaka University took the lead in the latest one-week-long protests for recruitment in first- and second-class government jobs, demanding seats to be filled based on talent reforming the existing quota system.