Students in Bangladesh fight quotas

THOUSANDS of students across Bangladesh staged protests and sit-ins on Monday after clashes at the country’s top university left at least 100 people injured.

Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at Dhaka University students fighting what they complain are discriminatory quotas for government jobs in favour of special groups.

It was one of the biggest protests faced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her decade in power.

Following the violence that erupted Sunday and continued into Monday, classes at Dhaka University ground to a halt as thousands occupied the main square chanting “Reform, reform!”

Students at state-run universities in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Sylhet and Savar also boycotted classes and staged sit-ins, police and media said.

Organisers in Dhaka said they had been holding peaceful protests Sunday when police started firing tear gas and rubber bullets, and used batons and water cannon to clear a central square.

The students are angry at the government’s decision to set aside 56 percent of civil service jobs for the families of veterans from the 1971 war of independence and for disadvantaged minorities.

That leaves most university graduates to fight for only 44 percent of the jobs.