People's Republic of Bangladesh - News and Developments

Bangladesh quota violence: TV station torched, internet shut; death toll hits 32 | 10 points​

By HT News Desk | Jul 19, 2024 01:35 AM IST
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The protesters chased the police to BTV's headquarters in Dhaka and set ablaze the channel's reception building​

Students take part in the ongoing anti-quota protest in Dhaka on July 18, 2024. (AFP)

Students take part in the ongoing anti-quota protest in Dhaka on July 18, 2024. (AFP)​

The violence in Bangladesh escalated on Thursday as students set afire a building belonging to the country's state broadcaster, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on the network seeking to calm clashes. As of now, the death toll in Bangladesh violence has reached 32.
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Here are 10 points on the Bangladesh violence:​

  1. Hundreds of protesters demanding quota system reforms for government jobs overwhelmed the riot police. They chased the police to BTV's headquarters in Dhaka and set ablaze the channel's reception building and several parked vehicles. Several people were trapped inside the office but they were safely evacuated.

  2. On Thursday, 25 more people died in the clashes, reported AFP. University students in Dhaka and other cities have been holding rallies for more than a week protesting the system of reservation in public sector jobs, including that for the relatives of war heroes, who fought for the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.

  3. The police have been using rubber bullets, tear gas and noise grenades to disperse the protesters but to no avail.

  4. The violence led to the shutting down of metro stations in the capital. The government has also ordered an internet shutdown. Outage monitor Netblocks said Bangladesh was suffering a "near-total internet shutdown".

  5. The government has deployed Border Guard Bangladesh personnel across the country including the capital, to maintain law and order.

  6. The Sheikh Hasina government has ordered schools and universities to shut indefinitely. On Wednesday, PM Hasina appeared on the broadcaster and condemned the "murder" of protesters and vowed that those responsible will be punished regardless of their political affiliation. However, the violence worsened the next day.

  7. The students are demanding an end to a quota system that reserves more than half of government jobs for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. The scheme also benefits children of pro-government groups that back Hasina, reported AFP. Meanwhile, human rights groups have accused the Hasina government of culling dissent.

  8. Bangladesh's junior minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak justified the internet ban saying social media had been “weaponised as a tool to spread rumours, lies and disinformation”.

  9. Law minister Anisul Huq told a press conference on Thursday that the government has decided to hold a dialogue with protesting students. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has entrusted him and education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury with holding the discussion.

  10. A spokesman of the protesters later said they no longer seek dialogue with the government and Nazmul Hassan. “Instead, we demand the immediate issuance of a gazette notification cancelling quotas in government jobs," they said.
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Source: Hindustan Times
With inputs from AFP, PTI
 
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Bangladeshi Islamists chimped out in Dubai over this and got arrested, will get deported and blacklisted by Dubai within a week. Already Dubai does not issue new labour visas to Bangladeshis, even tourists have difficult getting a visa:

www.khaleejtimes.com

UAE: Group of Bangladeshis arrested over riots, protests against home country’s govt

A group of Bangladeshi nationals were arrested for gathering and causing riots on UAE streets on Friday, authorities said. The Public Prosecution has order..
www.khaleejtimes.com
 
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it blows my mind how there is an Islamist popular movement in Bangladesh after the genocide. Itil is in living memory.

Thr Hasina government must be mismanaging this amazingly poorly.
 
Ginvincible said:
it blows my mind how there is an Islamist popular movement in Bangladesh after the genocide. Itil is in living memory.

Thr Hasina government must be mismanaging this amazingly poorly.
Click to expand...
lol, who do you think is backing the islamists ? They had been driven to political oblivion now they have found a new backer , US.
India , china & US are neck deep in BD, US wants to destabilize BD, while china wants to make it anti-India while India wants to maintain the status quo. Things are looking so bad that India might concede some ground to china to keep of US.
 
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