At least 300 police were injured during unrest in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, police spokesman Farooq Hossain said.
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“At least 150 police officers were taken to hospitals. Another 150 received first aid,” he said.
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A police spokesman estimated the number of protesters at hundreds of thousands.
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Mass protests against the quota system for government jobs have been ongoing in Bangladesh for several weeks. The day before, protesters stormed a prison in the Narsingdi district and released hundreds of prisoners from it. More than a hundred people died in clashes with police. The government imposed a curfew in the country and sent the army to assist civilian authorities.
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Unrest intensified earlier in the week amid clashes between protesters, police and pro-government student activists on the Dhaka University campus. Following the deaths of six people on July 16, authorities ordered the closure of universities across the country and police raided the headquarters of the main opposition party.
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Protesters are demanding an end to the quota system, which reserves up to 30 percent of government jobs for family members of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 War of Independence. They call the system discriminatory and say it benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose Awami League party led the independence movement.
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The Bangladeshi government suspended the quotas in 2017 after widespread student protests, but the High Court reinstated the quotas last month, upholding claims by relatives of 1971 veterans. The Supreme Court then stayed the High Court’s decision and is expected to deliver its decision on August 7.
