Bangladesh shuts schools after six die amid protests

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Bangladesh shuts schools after six die amid protests​

AFP
July 17, 2024

MEMBERS of the ruling party Awami League’s student wing clash with demonstrators protesting against quota for government jobs near Dhaka College, on Tuesday.—Reuters

DHAKA: Bangladesh ordered schools across the country on Tuesday to close indefinitely after six students were killed as protests over quotas for coveted government jobs turned into deadly clashes, prompting the mobilisation of paramilitaries to keep order.

Every high school, Islamic seminary and vocational education institute in the country was told to remain shut until further notice, following escalating demonstrations against civil service hiring policies.

Tuesday saw a significant escalation in violence as protesters and pro-government student groups attacked each other with hurled bricks and bamboo rods, and police dispersed rallies with tear gas and rubber bullets. Demonstrators mobilised in cities, defying earlier calls by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Supreme Court to return to class.

Three died in Chittagong and had signs of “bullet injuries”, hospital director Mohammad Taslimuddin said, adding that another 35 had been injured during clashes in the port city.

Border security force deployed in Dhaka, Chittagong and three other cities as protesting students demand end to job quota system

Another two died in Dhaka, where rival student groups threw bricks at each other and blocked roads in several key locations that ground traffic to a halt in the megacity of 20 million.

Source:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1846249/bangladesh-shuts-schools-after-six-die-amid-protests