Bangladeshi leaders ready to talk after protests turn violent

Law Minister Anisul Huq said Thursday that officials are ready to negotiate with student demonstrators who are protesting in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka. On Tuesday at least six people were killed and even more injured in the protests, authorities said. Footage showed tens of thousands of demonstrators swarming a major Bangladeshi highway on Tuesday, the same day the government ordered all universities to close temporarily. The next day, police tried to disperse crowds of protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Why are students protesting? Students want the government to stop using hiring quotas they describe as discriminatory. Bangladesh earmarks up to 30 percent of government jobs for family members of veterans who served in the country’s 1971 war of independence. Unemployment is on the rise among Bangladeshi young adults. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to launch a full government investigation into the deaths of protesters.

Dig deeper: Listen to Onize Ohikere’s report on The World and Everything in It about Prime Minister Hasina winning a fourth term earlier this year.