Students marched and blocked busy intersections across the country, causing traffic disruptions for a fourth day, demanding reforms to the government's employment policy that offers a 56 percent quota, Xinhua news agency reported.
The all-day movement began Thursday morning and continued until nightfall. The lockdown, especially in areas surrounding colleges and universities across the country, has created serious traffic congestion.
"As part of the programme, all highways and railways in the country will be blocked on Thursday," Nahid Islam, a Dhaka University student and organizer of the movement, said at a news conference in Dhaka on Wednesday.
He said the "Bengali blockade" will continue until their demands are met.
The protesting students demanded that the "discriminatory" quota system in all government jobs be abolished and that according to the constitution, quotas for backward sections will exist at a reasonable level by passing a law in parliament.
The system was reinstated by an independent court last month after it was suspended in 2018 following weeks of protests.
Student-led demonstrations resurfaced following the Supreme Court's confirmation in early July of a High Court ruling that reinstated the quota system for government jobs.
Under the existing government recruitment system, 56 percent of entry-level government jobs were reserved for specific "entitled" classes: 30 percent for children and grandchildren of 1971 "freedom fighters," 10 percent for women, 10 percent for districts. According to the population, 5 percent for ethnic minorities and 1 percent for people with disabilities.
Because of this, protesters said only 44 percent of job candidates were able to secure positions based on merit.
In 2018, the government issued a circular abolishing all 56 percent quotas in the public service following protests by university students and job seekers demanding reforms to the quota system that had been introduced in 1972.
Instead of a court, protesters said they are demanding an executive decision from the government on reforming the quota system.
Bangladesh's top court temporarily suspended the system on Wednesday, but protesters say they will keep it in place until the impasse is permanently resolved.
Students participating in the anti-quota movement are crossing boundaries, the Interior Minister said Thursday.
He urged them to stop the protests and take their complaints to court.
The all-day movement began Thursday morning and continued until nightfall. The lockdown, especially in areas surrounding colleges and universities across the country, has created serious traffic congestion.
"As part of the programme, all highways and railways in the country will be blocked on Thursday," Nahid Islam, a Dhaka University student and organizer of the movement, said at a news conference in Dhaka on Wednesday.
He said the "Bengali blockade" will continue until their demands are met.
The protesting students demanded that the "discriminatory" quota system in all government jobs be abolished and that according to the constitution, quotas for backward sections will exist at a reasonable level by passing a law in parliament.
The system was reinstated by an independent court last month after it was suspended in 2018 following weeks of protests.
Student-led demonstrations resurfaced following the Supreme Court's confirmation in early July of a High Court ruling that reinstated the quota system for government jobs.
Under the existing government recruitment system, 56 percent of entry-level government jobs were reserved for specific "entitled" classes: 30 percent for children and grandchildren of 1971 "freedom fighters," 10 percent for women, 10 percent for districts. According to the population, 5 percent for ethnic minorities and 1 percent for people with disabilities.
Because of this, protesters said only 44 percent of job candidates were able to secure positions based on merit.
In 2018, the government issued a circular abolishing all 56 percent quotas in the public service following protests by university students and job seekers demanding reforms to the quota system that had been introduced in 1972.
Instead of a court, protesters said they are demanding an executive decision from the government on reforming the quota system.
Bangladesh's top court temporarily suspended the system on Wednesday, but protesters say they will keep it in place until the impasse is permanently resolved.
Students participating in the anti-quota movement are crossing boundaries, the Interior Minister said Thursday.
He urged them to stop the protests and take their complaints to court.
