Students of Jahangirnagar University (JU) took to the streets on Sunday to enforce the “Bangla Blockade” programme, protesting the reinstatement of the quota system in public service.

Around 11am, demonstrators started a protest march from in front of the central library of the university and also paraded several roads on the campus. Later, the students blocked the Dhaka-Aricha Highway near the main gate. 

Touhid Siam, a student of the Department of International Relations and joint coordinator of the JU branch of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said, “We need to prepare for a prolonged movement. We want to let the state authorities know that if we resort to intense protests and this leads to patients dying in ambulances, HSC exams being postponed, or business losses, the state will be held responsible.

“There are groups trying to undermine our movement, but we will not give them that opportunity,” he said.

Arif Sohel, a student of the same department and coordinator of the JU branch of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said, “Many feared that we might not be able to conduct our movement properly, but we have been able to hold our programme peacefully. 

“Today, the students of Jahangirnagar University have initiated the ‘Bangla Blockade’ across the country. The university has led the Bangla Blockade nationwide,” he added.

Students and job seekers have been staging demonstrations and enforcing road blockades for several days, demanding the cancellation of the quota system in government jobs.