Amid massive protests in Bangladesh, a Bangladeshi-Canadian hopes for peace and justice

Amid massive unrest in Bangladesh, some members of Windsor's Bangladeshi community are standing in solidarity with student protesters in their home country and hoping an end to the violence comes soon.

Violent clashes between student protesters, security officials and pro-government student activists have gripped Bangladesh this week. Protesters are demanding their government abolish a quota system that reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for families of those who fought for Bangladesh's freedom in the country's 1971 war with Pakistan.

Protesters say the quota is discriminatory and benefits supporters of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party, which led the independence movement.

"It is against humanity. It's a crime," Saiful Bhuiyan, the advisor and director of the Bangladesh-Canada Students' Society of Windsor (BCSSW), told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive.

Six people were killed in Bangladesh on Wednesday and 19 more were killed on Thursday, according to media reports.

Bhuiyan has siblings, nieces and nephews who still live in Bangladesh. He says he and other members of the Bangladeshi community in Canada are concerned as they watch the situation play out from afar.

"Day by day we are frustrated because our brother[s], sister[s] and other people back home, they are now in [a] real crisis situation," said Bhuiyan. "A lot of places are burning."

The BCSSW is holding a peaceful protest at the University of Windsor on Thursday night to show their support for fellow students in Bangladesh and raise awareness about the violence there.

"We [want] to put our solidarity and our worry all over the world," said Bhuiyan. "We cannot tolerate this type of killing."

Similar protests have taken place internationally in countries like the U.S., according to Bhuiyan. He says he hopes that by adding their voices, protesters here might be able to encourage Canada's government to pressure the Bangladeshi government to listen to the student protesters.

Protest sought to organize "a complete shutdown" of Bangladesh on Thursday, except for essential services. This comes after several major universities in the country agreed to shut their doors indefinitely until tensions ease.

Offices and banks opened Thursday, though many malls did not and traffic on usually jammed roads was thin.

Protesters attacked the head office of state-run Bangladesh Television, breaking through a main gate and setting vehicles and the reception area on fire, a news producer and a reporter told The Associated Press by phone.