In Bangladesh, protests are no longer about the quota system

The violence has led even common people to demand the prime minister’s exit.

It has been more than 10 days now since the start of the protests against a government job quota system. Students and youth across the country have been demonstrating against what they see as an unfair policy favouring a certain group – children of “freedom fighters” in the Bangladesh war of independence. But after the government unleashed unprecedented violence, the protests have gone beyond the demand for cancellation of the quota system.

A list of demands by students has been circulated in an underground press release.

1) The prime minister must accept responsibility for the mass killings of students and publicly apologise.

2) The home minister and the road, transport and bridges minister [the latter is also the secretary general of the Awami League], must resign from their [cabinet] positions and the party.

3) Police officers present in the sites where students were killed must be sacked.

4) Vice Chancellors of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar and Rajshahi universities must resign.

5) The police and goons who attacked the students and those who instigated the attacks must be arrested.

6) Families of the killed and injured must be compensated.

7) Bangladesh Chhatra League [BCL, the pro-government student wing, which is, effectively, the government’s vigilante force] must be banned from student politics and a student union established.

8) All educational institutions and halls of residences must be reopened.

9) Guarantees must be provided that no academic or administrative harassment of protesters will take place.

That Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina publicly apologises for her disparaging comments about the protesters may seem a minor issue, but will