At least 5 killed in fresh Bangladesh job-quota protests

Telecoms links also widely disrupted, and TV news channels go off the air

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At least five people died in Bangladesh on July 19 in fresh protests against quotas for government jobs, as telecoms links were widely disrupted and TV news channels went off the air.

The authorities had cut some mobile telephone services the previous day to try to quell the unrest, initially sparked by student anger over the controversial quotas, but the wider disruption on July 19 was not linked to a global cyber outage.

The government offered no immediate comment on the severed communications, but the new protests defied its order barring all public meetings and processions indefinitely after dozens were killed in violence this week.

“I call upon all leaders, activists, and common people... to stand by these tender-hearted students, provide them with all support, and carry this movement forward,” Mr Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), posted on X.

Many opposition party leaders, activists, and student protesters had been arrested in a bid to give “political colour” to the movement, he added, but Reuters could not verify his statement about the arrests.