Bangladesh students refuse to call off protests despite scrapping of job quotas

• Demonstrations against govt hiring rules spark nationwide unrest
• Bangladesh top court scraps most of  quotas on government jobs.
• Court directs 93% of govt jobs to be open to candidates on merit. 

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi student group whose demonstrations against civil service hiring rules precipitated serious nationwide unrest said Sunday it would not abandon protests despite a Supreme Court ruling partially meeting their demands.

"We won't call off our protests until the government issues an order reflecting our demands," a spokesman for Students Against Discrimination told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Bangladesh's top court earlier in the day scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that have sparked student-led protests in which at least 139 people have been killed in the South Asian country, local media reported.

The court's Appellate Division dismissed a lower court order that had reinstated the quotas, directing that 93% of government jobs will be open to candidates on merit, without quotas, the reports said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government had scrapped the quota system in 2018, but the lower court reinstated it last month, sparking the protests and an ensuing government crackdown.

It was not immediately clear how the protesters would react to the decision.

Streets near the apex court were quiet immediately after the decision and army teams were deployed throughout the capital Dhaka, a Reuters witness said.

Local media had reported scattered clashes earlier in the day between protesters and security forces

The government had extended a curfew as authorities braced for the Supreme Court hearing on the job quotas. 

Soldiers were on patrol on the streets of capital Dhaka, the centre of the demonstrations that spiralled into clashes between protesters and security forces.

Internet and text message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday, cutting the nation off as police cracked down on protesters who defied a ban on public gatherings.

Additional input from Reuters