BANGLADESH’S top court on Sunday scaled back a controversial quota system for Government job applicants, in a partial victory for student protesters after days of nationwide unrest and deadly clashes between police and demonstrators that have killed scores of people. Students, frustrated by shortages of good jobs, have been demanding an end to a quota that reserved 30% of Government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. The Government previously halted it in 2018 following massstudent protests, but in June, Bangladesh’s High Court reinstated the quotas and set off anew round of protests. Ruling on an appeal, theSupreme Court ordered that the veterans’ quota be cut to 5%, with 93% of jobs to be allocated on merit.

 

The remaining2%willbesetaside for members of ethnic minorities and transgender and disabled people. The protestshaveposed themost serious challenge to Bangladesh’s Government since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a fourth consecutive termin Januaryelections that were boycotted by themainOpposition groups. Universities have been closed, theinternet has been shutoff and theGovernment has ordered people to stay at home. The protests turned deadly onTuesday, aday after students at Dhaka University began clashing with police. Violence continued to escalate as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and hurled smoke grenades to scatter stone-throwing protesters. Bangladeshi authorities haven’t shared any official numbers of those killed and injured, but the Daily Prothom Alo newspaper reported Saturday that at least 103 people have died so far. Sporadic clashes in some parts of Dhaka, the capital, were reported on Saturday but it was not immediately clearwhether therewere any fatalities.