What sparked Bangladesh's deadly protests?
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is facing one of the biggest challenges of her 15-year tenure. Scores of people have been killed during student protests against a public jobs quota scheme that critics say gives preference to allies of Hasina's ruling party. Will a recent Supreme Court ruling temper their anger?
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00:00Bangladesh has in recent weeks been shaken by some of its worst unrest in years. Thousands
00:08of students have taken to the streets across the country, angry at the government's quota
00:13system for civil service jobs. Police have fired tear gas and water cannons to try to
00:18disperse them, with more than 180 killed in the clashes and hundreds more taken to hospital.
00:24So why have the students been protesting? The answer is jobs. Around 18 million young
00:38people in Bangladesh are out of work, and in June, a court reintroduced a contentious
00:43quota system for civil service jobs. It included the reservation of 30% of posts for the families
00:49of veterans who fought Bangladesh's 1971 War of Liberation against Pakistan. Civil
00:55service posts offer a chance at stable lifetime employment, and with graduates facing an acute
01:01jobs crisis, their anger is palpable.
01:31Rewind six years to 2018. Student protests over the issue that year prompted Prime Minister
01:42Sheikh Hasina to cut down the quota scheme, a move deemed unlawful by the high court in June
01:47when it ordered the scheme's reintroduction. Students say the quota system is abused to
01:52stack government posts with loyalists of Hasina's ruling Awami League party. The Supreme Court has
01:59overruled the lower court, reducing the number of reserved jobs from 56% to 7%, with 5% for the
02:06families of veterans. However, the decision falls short of protesters' demands to scrap
02:12their freedom fighter category altogether.
02:14In a hospital in the capital, a battered and bruised protest leader
02:44laments the loss of life in the demonstrations. He blames the authorities for escalating tensions.
02:50Government officials, in turn, have repeatedly blamed the protesters and the opposition for
02:55the unrest. With soldiers patrolling the streets and widespread internet blackouts,
03:00getting a clear picture of the situation is a challenge.