WASHINGTON: The United States has called on Bangladesh to uphold the right to peaceful protest amid demonstrations against the government's job quota system in which police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets amid violent clashes that have left at least six people dead and dozens injured.
The protests turned violent this week when thousands of anti-quota demonstrators clashed with members of the student wing of the ruling Awami League party across the country. Six people, including at least three students, were killed during Tuesday's clashes, police said.
Students have protested against public sector job quotas, which include a 30% reservation for relatives of combatants from the 1971 war. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the government will form a judicial committee to investigate the killings.
The quotas have sparked anger among students who face high rates of youth unemployment: nearly 32 million young Bangladeshis are neither working nor studying, out of a total population of 170 million people.
“We condemn any kind of violence against peaceful protesters. We've been following this issue very closely, both from our embassy and from officials here in Washington. We've been following the protests, we've seen reports of people who have died and been killed in the protests. And again, we call on the government to uphold individual rights to peacefully protest,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Wednesday.
The protests intensified after Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, refused to meet protesters' demands.
The protests are the first significant challenge to Hasina's rule since she won a fourth consecutive term in January in an election the United States says was neither free nor fair.
