Bangladesh Protesters Call for Nationwide Shutdown Amid Clashes

17 July 2024, Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh police personnel fire tear shells during clashes. Photo: Habibur Rahman/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2024, Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh police personnel fire tear shells during clashes. Photo: Habibur Rahman/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Bangladesh Protesters Call for Nationwide Shutdown Amid Clashes

17 July 2024, Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh police personnel fire tear shells during clashes. Photo: Habibur Rahman/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2024, Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh police personnel fire tear shells during clashes. Photo: Habibur Rahman/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Student protesters demanding an end to quotas for government jobs in Bangladesh called on Thursday for a complete shutdown nationwide, after deadly clashes this week killed six and injured hundreds.
Angered by high youth unemployment, with nearly 32 million out of work or education among a population of 170 million, the students have pressed for the abolition of a quota of 30% reservations for the families of freedom fighters.
"We will go ahead with our plans for complete shutdown ... All establishments will remain closed," protest coordinator Nahid Islam told Reuters.
"Only hospitals and emergency services will remain operational, with ambulance services being the sole permitted transport."
Many government and private offices were open on Thursday in the capital, Dhaka, with three-wheelers and motorcycles on its streets, although public buses were fewer than usual.
Authorities had closed all public and private universities indefinitely from Wednesday and sent riot police and the Border Guard paramilitary force to university campuses to ensure law and order.
The protests are the first significant challenge to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government since she won a fourth straight term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
In an address to the nation on Wednesday, Hasina promised her government would set up a judicial panel to investigate the deaths after police fired bullets and tear gas to scatter protesters.
On August 7, the Supreme Court will hear the government's appeal against a High Court verdict that ordered reinstatement of the 30% reservation for the families of those who fought in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, she added.
Hasina asked the students to be patient until the verdict.
The violence was sparked by nationwide clashes between thousands of protesters and members of the student wing of Hasina's ruling party, the Awami League. At least three students were among the six killed in Tuesday's clashes, police said.
The demonstrations intensified after Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, refused to meet the protesters' demands.
Rights groups, such as Amnesty International, as well as the United Nations and the United States, have urged Bangladesh to protect peaceful protesters from violence.



Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Vatican Cancels Pope’s Weekend Engagements as He Battles ‘Complex’ Infection 

Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk past the statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for tests and treatment for an infection in Rome, on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

Pope Francis, who began his fifth day in hospital on Tuesday for what doctors have described as a "complex" respiratory infection, will not take part in this weekend's Holy Year events, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday.

A planned public papal audience set for Saturday had been cancelled "due to the health condition of the Holy Father", the Vatican said in a brief statement.

A papal mass scheduled for Sunday will still take place, but will be led instead by a senior Vatican official, it added.

The Vatican said on Monday that doctors had changed the pope's drug therapy for the second time during his hospital stay to tackle a "complex clinical situation". They described it as a "polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract".

Doctors say polymicrobial diseases can be caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria and fungi.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013, has had influenza and other health problems several times over the past two years. As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed, and in recent times has been prone to lung infections.