More than 20 killed as Bangladesh protesters renew call for Hasina to quit

Protests over a jobs quota system have morphed into wider antigovernment movement across country of 170 million people.

More than 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a new round of violence in Bangladesh as police fired tear gas and lobbed stun grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who returned to the streets to ask Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.

The deaths were reported by the police and doctors on Sunday in the capital Dhaka and in the northern districts of Bogura, Pabna and Rangpur, as well as in Magura in the west, Comilla in the east, and Barisal and Feni in the south.

The demonstrators were demanding Hasina’s resignation after earlier protests in July that began with students calling for an end to a quota system for government jobs escalated into violence that left more than 200 people dead.

Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdry, reporting from the capital, described the situation as “volatile”. “The protesters are saying that they are not going to move, until their government steps down,” he said.