Government urges Bangladesh’s universities to close after six die in protests

Authorities in Bangladesh have urged all universities to close, after at least six people died in violent protests over the allocation of government jobs.

Police also raided the headquarters of the main opposition party amid the unrest.

Dhaka University, at the centre of the violence, decided to suspend classes and close its dormitories indefinitely, a university official said.

The University Grants Commission asked all public and private universities to suspend classes and empty their dormitories until further notice, in order to protect students.

The country’s universities are run autonomously and the request does not have legal force. It is not immediately clear how many universities would comply with the call.

Authorities said that at least six people were killed on Tuesday in violence across the country as student protesters clashed with pro-government student activists and with police, and violence was reported around the capital of Dhaka, the south-eastern city of Chattogram and the northern city of Rangpur.

Overnight, Dhaka police raided the headquarters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), accusing it of playing a role in the violence.

Detective chief Harun-or-Rashid told reporters that police had arrested seven members of the party’s student wing in connection with two buses that were set on fire Tuesday. He added that detectives found 100 crude bombs, 500 wooden and bamboo sticks, and five to six bottles of petrol in the raid.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP leader, accused the government of “staging” the raid to divert attention from protests.

Police official Sentu Mia said they used rubber bullets to disperse the opposition activists after they attacked police, and several opposition activists were arrested.

BNP secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir accused police of barring their supporters from the funeral prayers.

On Wednesday, stray protests took place at Dhaka University and elsewhere in the country.

A senior leader of the ruling Awami League party said the opposition was using the protests as a weapon against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Obaidul Quader, the Awami League’s general secretary and a senior Cabinet minister, said that “evil forces” have taken over the student movement, blaming the student wings of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and right wing Jamaat-e-Islami party for Tuesday’s violence.

He urged the protesters to have patience until the country’s supreme court hears petitions involving the quota issues next month.

Police were deployed on the campus, while paramilitary border forces patrolled the streets in Dhaka and other big cities.

The protests began late last month, demanding an end to a quota that reserves 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence in 1971.

Demonstrations turned violent on Monday as protesters clashed with counter-protests and police at Dhaka University, leaving 100 people injured.