Bangladesh government imposes curfew and deploys army to control protests

Jul 19. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on Friday imposed a curfew and deployed the army to control violent protests that have erupted against the country’s discriminatory quota system for civil servants.

Prime Minister Nayemul Islam Khan’s press secretary has confirmed the decision to impose a midnight curfew following an important meeting on Friday, the BBC reported.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued circulars to inform that this measure has been taken with the aim of maintaining public peace, order and security under the so-called Special Powers Act, enacted in 1974.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has posted on its Facebook page that authorities have arrested numerous student leaders, activists and protesters, including the party’s deputy general secretary, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Bangladeshi police have reported that protesters have set fire to several government buildings, including the Disaster Management Agency and state broadcaster BTV, Bloomberg news agency reported.

The country is under a state of digital communications blackout by order of the Telecommunications Minister, Junaid Ahmed Palak. The NetBlocks organization, which specializes in monitoring access restrictions in conflict zones, has confirmed outages in recent days.

The Ministry of Education has announced the closure of all schools and colleges in the country until further instructions for the safety of students, according to a statement by the Ministry of Education’s press secretary, MA Jayer, on Tuesday.

The protests began earlier this month after the Bangladesh High Court reinstated the system, which was introduced in 1972 but scrapped in 2018 following major student protests. Amnesty International had denounced the use of force by the authorities at the time.

Under the quota system, 30 percent of civil service positions are reserved for descendants of war fighters, and an additional 26 percent are specifically designated for women, residents of impoverished districts, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

Some protesters also claim that this system favours supporters of the Awami League, the party of Prime Minister Hasina, which has made independence its banner while using quotas as a political tool to consolidate its control over the country at the local level.