There are not many opportunities for graduates in Bangladesh. Around 18 million young people are out of work, according to government figures. So when the country’s high court reintroduced a quota system for prized government jobs last month, including a 30 per cent quota for family members of people who fought in the country’s 1971 war of independence, students revolted. Tens of thousands took to the streets, with more citizens joining them after Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, deployed the police and paramilitary forces to stop the protests as well as installing a curfew, closing campuses and blocking internet access. The government has now agreed to a Supreme Court ruling that dramatically reduces the quota system. But it’s unclear if that will stop the unrest. And the cost has already been high: AFP estimates that more than 2,500 people have been arrested and at least 174 people have died.
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