On July 19, 2024, dozens of Bangladeshi students gathered at Thompson Rivers University, then at Kamloops city hall, in solidarity with the deadly protests back home this week.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Bangladeshi students in Kamloops are watching with fear and frustration as students back home clash with their own government.

More than two dozen are dead and hundreds are injured as the widespread student protests have been met with violent resistance from Bangladeshi forces. Thompson Rivers University students from the South Asian country demonstrated Friday afternoon to bring awareness to the deadly protests while communications in their home country were shutdown.

"It's really heartbreaking because I can't reach my parents or sisters back there in the past 24 hours. I have been calling them but since the internet and network is off, I couldn't reach them, so I would say this is the best we can do here to share our solidarity with the people back in our country who are actually fighting against the police," student Rafia Fardous said. "I want it to end. I don't want any bloodshed anymore"

READ MORE: Bangladesh imposes nationwide curfew as deadly protests over government jobs escalate

Students are demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs. The policy reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the country's 1971 war for independence, which students argue benefits the supporters of the prime minister's party that led the movement at the time.

Students want a merit-based system for government jobs.

As of July 18, 25 people are dead after violence began at Dhaka University in the country's capital earlier this week, according to the Associated Press.

Fardous said she would have joined the protests if given the chance, but she and the dozens of students who joined her are showing their support from Canada instead.

"It's not like students have fought for their rights for the first time," she said. "We have been fighting for our rights for the past ten years. I have joined the protests before and I would have if I was there."

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The Bangladeshi government has attempted to quell the unrest with not only police and military forces, but they have also installed a curfew. A telecommunications shutdown affected mobile and internet services in the capital of Dhaka beginning Thursday. The cause isn't clear, but it was much more widespread in Bangladesh than the global Microsoft outage on July 19.

"We're in a lot of mental stress because haven't been able to talk with our family members for more than 24 hours," Shafin Shourav of the university's Bangladesh Club said.

He believes the quota system should be ended and agrees with protest action, but he's also fearful for people risking their safety. In particular, Shourav worries about his siblings.

"Obviously I'm scared for my family. I'm scared for my sister who is on faculty at a university. I'm scared for my brothers who are fighting on the filed for their rights," he said.

The Kamloops students met briefly at Thompson Rivers University on Friday afternoon before taking their demonstration to city hall.

"I hope you can convey what we are doing and what we are feeling for the country so our people who are fighting against the government back in our country know that we are not just sitting idle. We are trying to do something from here, from so far away," Fardous said.

— With files from the Associated Press.

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