Members of Bangladeshi community in Sudbury fear for safety of loved ones back home

It's been a week since Laurentian University student Shaharia Jalal Mim last spoke with her family in Bangladesh.

"The last situation they were informing us about was dead bodies everywhere on the streets and they cannot even get out of the home to recharge their phones," she said.

The South Asian country has been cut off from much of the world since the government cut off phone and internet services over the weekend.

That move followed nationwide protests, especially from young people, over a quota system for government jobs they see as unfair.

"According to some estimates, the unemployment rate of university graduates in Bangladesh is about 40 per cent," said Sadequl Islam, an economics professor at Laurentian University, in Sudbury, Ont., who is originally from Bangladesh.

WATCH | Bangladesh military moves in to quash violent protests in Dhaka

Many of the best jobs for university graduates in the country are with government services, but a quota system in place for years reserves many of those positions for people who fought for the country's liberation in the early 1970s – along with their children and grandchildren.

The government's response to protests opposing those quotas has resulted in more than 100 deaths, and many more injured.

Laurentian has nearly 500 students from Bangladesh, and many took part in their own recent protest to bring attention to their country's plight.

"If I was there I would be joining with them for the same thing," said Laurentian student Badal Das.

"It's for the betterment of my country, right? And I love my country."

Das also hasn't been able to connect with his family for several days and is unsure if they are safe.

"I don't know whether my brother was there [protesting] or not because I have not been able to talk to him," he said.

"I tried to reach him several times but failed. So it's really killing me. What is happening is not right."