AUTHORITIES in Bangladesh urged all universities to close today, the day after at least six people died during protests over the allocation of government jobs and police raided the headquarters of the main opposition party.
Dhaka University, at the centre of the violence, decided to suspend classes and close its dormitories indefinitely, a university official told reporters.
The University Grants Commission asked all public and private universities to close until further notice, in order to protect students, but the request did not have legal force and it was not immediately clear how many universities would comply.
Authorities said that at least six people were killed on Tuesday in violence across the country as student protesters clashed with pro-government student activists and with police, and violence was reported around the capital, Dhaka, the south-eastern city of Chattogram and the northern city of Rangpur.
Dhaka police today raided the headquarters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, accusing it of playing a role in the violence.
Detective chief Harun-or-Rashid told reporters that police had arrested seven members of the party's student wing in connection with two buses that were set on fire on Tuesday.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP leader, accused the government of “staging” the raid.
The protests began late last month, demanding an end to a quota that reserves 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence, but turned violent on Monday as protesters at Dhaka University clashed with police and counter-protests organised by the student wing of the governing Awami League party, leaving 100 people injured.
Protesters argue the veterans’ families quota is discriminatory, and argue it benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement.
Ms Hasina defended the quota system Tuesday, saying that veterans deserve the highest respect for their sacrifice in 1971 regardless of their current political affiliation.
