More than 50 people have been injured in violent clashes in Bangladesh over a quota that allows relatives of ex-soldiers to take up to 30% of government jobs.
Police fired tear gas and charged with batons in violent scenes between a pro-government student body and student protesters at a public university outside the capital Dhaka.
Protesters were demanding an end to a quota reserved for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The quota allows them to take up to 30% of government jobs.
The violence broke out early on Tuesday after protesters gathered outside the official residence of the vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University in Savar.
Demonstrators accused the Bangladesh Chhatra League, a student wing of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League party, of attacking their “peaceful protests”.
According to local media reports, police and the student group attacked the protesters.
But senior police official Abdullahil Kafi told the country’s leading English-language newspaper, Daily Star, that officers fired tear gas and “blank rounds” as protesters attacked them. He said up to 15 police officers were injured.
More than 50 people were treated at a nearby hospital as the violence continued for hours, officials said. At least 30 suffered pellet wounds.
On Monday, violence also spread to Dhaka University, the country’s leading public university, where more than 100 students were injured in the clashes, police said.
The protesters in Dhaka said they planned to demonstrate on Tuesday as well.
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Protesters argue that the quota for veterans is discriminatory and should be merit-based. Some say the current system benefits groups supporting Ms Hasina.
Her party favours keeping the quota for the families of the 1971 war heroes. Her party, under the leadership of her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led the war of independence with the help of India.
Mr Rahman was assassinated along with most members of his family in a military coup in 1975.
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Some cabinet ministers criticised the demonstrators, saying they were playing on students’ emotions.
While job opportunities have expanded in Bangladesh’s private sector, many find government jobs stable and lucrative. Each year, 3,000 such jobs open up to nearly 400,000 graduates.
The quota system in Bangladesh also reserves government jobs for women, disabled people and ethnic minority groups, but students have only protested against jobs reserved for veterans’ families.
