“It’s not about the rights of the students anymore,” business owner Hasibul Sheikh, 24, told AFP at the scene of a Saturday street protest, held in the capital Dhaka in defiance of a nationwide curfew.
“Our demand is one point now, and that’s the resignation of the government.”
The catalyst for this month’s unrest is a system that reserves more than half of civil service posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
Critics say the scheme benefits families loyal to Hasina, 76, who has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Hasina’s government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
“MADE THE SITUATION WORSE”
With Bangladesh unable to provide adequate employment opportunities for its 170 million people, the quota scheme is a pronounced source of resentment among young graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.
Hasina inflamed tensions this month by likening protesters to the Bangladeshis who had collaborated with Pakistan during the country’s independence war.
“Rather than try to address the protesters’ grievances, the government’s actions have made the situation worse,” Crisis Group’s Asia director Pierre Prakash told AFP.
