Bangladesh Declares National Day Of Mourning After Deadly Protests; Internet Restored After 10-Day Shutdown

As the student protests taper off, Bangladesh has decided to call off its nationwide internet shutdown and restore services. The return of the Internet comes after a 10-day blackout due to deadly protests over the job quota system in Bangladesh.

The protests erupted after outrage amongst the student community over the reservation for specific quotas in the government jobs system.

The protests later took a violent and deadly turn after clashes broke out between student bodies and security forces. As per the official numbers, over 150 people were killed in the unrest, however, student organisations have stated around 200 were killed.

As per an official statement from the Bangladesh foreign ministry, the internet services have been restored.

"The broadband and mobile internet connectivity has been restored with full functionality by now. Other forms of communications, including land-based and mobile telecommunications, were functional through the entire period of unrest and violence," the ministry stated.

The government further added that the situation in Bangladesh is "returning to normal" due to the timely and appropriate measures taken by the government.

National Day Of Mourning After 150 Killed In Protests

Bangladesh has declared a national day of mourning after 150 people were killed in the deadly job quota protests.

"The government has decided that a nationwide mourning will be observed tomorrow... People have been urged to wear black badges to mourn the deaths ,” stated Cabinet Secretary Mahbub Hossain at a media briefing after a meeting chaired by Hasina at the Prime Minister's Office .

Student Organisations Call Off Protests

Despite fresh calls for demonstration on Saturday, student activist Nahid Islam has stated that the students will be calling off all protests and demonstrations in view of the Supreme Court's order on the quota system.

Amid the violent protests, the Bangladesh Supreme Court ordered the scaling back of the quotas, which reduced the reservation for the war veterans quota to five percent and paved the way for 93 percent of merit based recruitment.

"Our main demand for logical reforms to the government job quota system has been met," stated Islam said in a video message on Sunday from the police headquarters. The student leader also called for all educational institutions in the country to re-open.