South Asia: Student rebellion continues in Bangladesh and the government has imposed a night curfew

There is already talk of 105 deaths due to the repression and India (which borders Bangladesh) is placing buses for students of that nationality who want to return temporarily to their country. And Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, at the same time as ordering the undemocratic measure of establishing a curfew, suspended her official trips to Spain and Brazil.

Let us recall that the rebellion of the student movement arose when the government – following a Supreme Court ruling – announced the reestablishment of “quotas” for access to public employment, indicating that 30% of these jobs will be reserved for descendants of those who are considered “heroes of Pakistan’s independence” (1971). This “quota” or “quota” system had been suspended since 2018, when a wave of protests against this measure also filled the streets.

Spontaneously, thousands of students from all universities flooded the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong and other cities. From Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar, Rangpur and Cumilla, youths staged sit-ins on the main avenues of the capital of 30 million people. The movement quickly spread to other cities, and universities in the interior of the country and high school students joined in.

In Dhaka, the capital, it is the army (along with the police) that continues to patrol the streets to suppress the protests. Since last Thursday, the Internet connection has been suspended and telephone communications have suffered severe slowdowns, in order to prevent communication between the mobilized youth. For the past five days, the police have been firing tear gas, stun grenades, but also live ammunition at protesters during the nationwide protests, but students continue to take to the streets.

Six months into her tenure as prime minister, after her party won the parliamentary elections, opposition to Hasina is growing. The situation of Bengali youth is deteriorating day by day. According to data (for March) from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 39.88 percent of young people between 15 and 24 years old are unemployed and not studying either.

The protests are turning over time from demonstrations against a restrictive measure for youth in general (especially considering the almost 40% unemployment rate) into directly anti-government protests and have spread to practically the entire country. This has already caused the European Union powers to view the situation with concern and fear, but they have the problem of not being able to openly defend Hasina’s government due to the openly repressive measures it is taking.