Protests Again Rock Bangladesh, Weeks After a Deadly Crackdown

Fresh protests are roiling Bangladesh, just weeks after a deadly government crackdown dispersed a student movement that began as demonstrations over a preferential quota system for public-sector jobs and widened to express deeper discontent.

In its efforts to break last month’s protests, which started peacefully but turned violent after students were attacked, the government detained student leaders, rounded up about 10,000 people and accused tens of thousands more of crimes such as arson and vandalism.

A curfew and communication blackout quieted things down, and a court ruling on the quota system gave the students a significant concession on their initial demands. But the crackdown now seems to have made people even angrier, and to have halted the protests only temporarily.

Their revival in large numbers, once the curfew and communications blackout was eased, was a call for accountability for the deaths of more than 200 people in the crackdown. It is adding to what is already the biggest challenge Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has faced in her 15 years as the leader of the country of 170 million people.

“There’s a storm inside my chest,” a group of protesters gathered near Dhaka College chanted on Saturday. “I’ve bared my chest, go ahead and shoot.”

Salimullah Khan, a university professor who has joined the protests since they resumed, said there was anger over the killings, and no trust that the same authorities who administered the crackdown would deliver justice.