Curfew continues in Bangladesh despite top court's decision to scrap job quotas after protests

  • 3 months ago

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Transcript
00:00Heavy police presence outside the Bangladesh Supreme Court after a long-anticipated decision.
00:06On Sunday, it announced plans to scale back the controversial quotas that had sparked
00:10nationwide protests, ordering most government jobs to be rewarded on a merit-based system.
00:17The general public will have 93% of the total jobs and 7% will be reserved for quotas, of
00:24which 5% will be for the children and grandchildren of the freedom fighters.
00:30Sunday's verdict comes after weeks of deadly clashes between police and protesters.
00:35Demonstrators have been demanding an end to what they say is a discriminatory quota system
00:40that reserved a third of government jobs for relatives of those who fought in the country's
00:441971 War of Independence.
00:46And what began as a demonstration against admission quotas for sought-after government
00:50jobs snowballed into one of the worst crises under the current prime minister's tenure.
00:57People were killed like birds, some after being tortured.
01:00And they were killed with sponsorship by the government because they took part in our quota
01:04reform movement.
01:05So the state should take responsibility.
01:09Many youths in Bangladesh are frustrated with the lack of good jobs after graduation.
01:14And the government crackdown has stoked even more anger, with protesters demanding Prime
01:18Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.

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