Anger over jobs reserved for war heroes’ children

“My demand is not to cancel the system. My demand is for quota reform,” one protester told BBC Bangla.

Another student said he would keep protesting until a “permanent solution” is found.

Government jobs are highly coveted in Bangladesh because they pay well. In total, more than half of the positions – amounting to hundreds of thousands – are reserved for certain groups.

Earlier this month, Ms Hasina condemned the protests, saying students were “wasting their time”, while adding there was “no justification for the anti-quota movement”.

Bangladesh, which was once one of the poorest countries in the world, is now one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

Its per capita income has tripled in the last decade and the World Bank estimates that more than 25 million people have been lifted out of poverty over the last two decades.

But its economy spun into turmoil in mid-2022 following the pandemic and the global economic slowdown.