Deadly protests escalate in Bangladesh

What happened

Bangladesh issued a nationwide high-security alert as clashes between students and police that have left at least 39 people dead intensify. Riot police opened fire on students with rubber bullets in the capital Dhaka on Thursday before retreating to the headquarters of state broadcaster BTV. Protesters then set fire to the building, with people trapped inside. 

Who said what

In a televised address on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina condemned the "murder" of protesters after tensions boiled over earlier this week. But the "violence worsened on the streets despite her appeal for calm," said The Guardian. Students are demanding an end to a quota-based system of government job allocations that critics claim unfairly benefits Hasina's supporters. 

Mubashar Hasan, a Bangladesh expert at the University of Oslo, said the civil unrest has evolved into a "wider expression of discontent" with the "autocratic rule" of Hasina, who has been in power since 2009.

What next?

Hasina's government has "ordered schools and universities to close indefinitely as police step up efforts to bring a deteriorating law-and-order situation under control," said Agence France-Presse. Bangladesh's Supreme Court is expected to rule on the jobs quota system on Aug. 7.

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