Police in Bangladesh used teargas and batons during violent clashes between a pro-government student body and student protesters at a public university, that left scores injured.
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The violence erupted at Jahangir Nagar University in Savar, outside Dhaka, where the protesters were demanding an end to a government job quota for family members of heroes who fought in Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971.
The quota system also reserves government jobs for women, disabled people and ethnic minority groups.
The system was suspended in 2018, which brought similar protests to a halt at the time. But in a decision last month, Bangladesh's High Court asked for the 30 per cent quota for veterans' descendants to be restored.
That triggered fresh protests, with demonstrators supporting the six per cent quota for disabled people and ethnic groups but not for the descendants of the independence war heroes.
The Supreme Court last week halted the High Court's order for four weeks and the chief justice asked the protesters to return to their classes. The Supreme Court said it would decide on the issue after four weeks, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the issue is in the court's hands now.
But the protests have continued daily, halting traffic in Dhaka.
More than 50 people were treated at Enam Medical College Hospital near the university as the violence continued for hours, said Ali Bin Solaiman, a medical officer of the hospital. He said at least 30 of them suffered pellet wounds.
The protesters accused the Bangladesh Chhatra League, a student wing of the ruling Awami League party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, of attacking their peaceful protests.
Abdullahil Kafi, a senior police official, told the country's leading English-language newspaper Daily Star that they fired tear gas and blank rounds as the protesters attacked the police. He said up to 15 police officers were injured.
On Monday, violence gripped the Dhaka university campus with more than 100 students injured, police said.
Hasina's party favours keeping the quota for the families of the 1971 war heroes after her Awami League party, under the leadership of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led the independence war with the help of India.
Australian Associated Press
