Hasina urges patience, quota protesters call shutdown

Sheikh Hasina has urged students protesting against government job quotas to have patience, but the protesters have called a complete shutdown across Bangladesh with violence rocking regions in the wake of deaths.

The prime minister promised justice for the victims of Tuesday’s violent clashes between the protesters and pro-government students in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday.

But the demonstrators continued to occupy university halls and key places despite an order to vacate the residential halls.

“I believe they [victims] will get justice, and won’t be frustrated,” she said.

“I declare unequivocally that action will be taken to ensure that those who have committed murder, looting, and terrorist activities - whoever they are - will be punished.

“I also declare that a judicial investigation will be conducted in the interest of fairness and justice in all the unintended incidents, including the murders,” the prime minister announced.

Asked why they called the shutdown for Thursday even after Hasina’s call for patience until a final court verdict on job quotas, protest leader Sarjis Alam blamed her for the casualties.

“We believe the law-enforcing agencies could not have mustered the courage to open fire on students without instructions from the head of government or the high-ups,” he said.

“Police used tear gas, sound grenades and even opened fired inside the halls in every university. Such brutality took place on March 25, 1971. That is being repeated.

“How can the prime minister expect patience from us after not showing tolerance to us?”

He also said they would fix a strategy later as general students started leaving the halls out of anxiousness while police dispersed quota protesters staging funerals in absentia for the victims.

Al Amin, who resides in Salimullah Muslim Hall, said: “This is my second home. I had never thought of leaving the hall like this. But I must accept the reality.”

Mahbubur Rahman, another student from Bijoy Ekattor Hall, said their new semester began on Jul 1 but no classes were held.

“I don’t know when the university will reopen. We’re heading towards an uncertain session logjam,” he said.

A group of protesters again clashed with police on the campus late in the night, but the situation was worse in Shonir Akhra, where at least six people, including a toddler, were shot.

One person was shot in the head and taken to the intensive care unit after surgery at DMCH.

Injured Babu Mia, 40, said they live on the ground floor of a five-storey house in Shonir Akhra. During the clash, when his 2-year-old son Rahid began crying, he brought him near the collapsible gate of the house. At that moment, pellets from a gun hit Babu in the face and Rahid in the chest.

At Jahangirnagar University, protesters defied the order to vacate the halls, but the law-enforcing agencies fired tear gas to disperse them. There were also reports of police firing on the protesters during clashes.

In Gaibandha, a group of protesters vandalised and torched the local offices of the Awami League and the BNP.

The BNP’s central leadership, however, announced solidarity with the protesters.