The quota protesters announced to observe a countrywide ‘Bangla Blockade’ from 10 am on Wednesday till evening for mounting pressure on the government to accept their demand for reforming quota system.

Earlier on Monday they observed Bangla Blockade in the capital and other parts of the country blocking different intersections in the capital, railways and highway in other parts of the country, causing woes to people. The protesters had not protest programme on Tuesday.

Nahid Islam, one of the main coordinators of the movement, came up with the announcement at a press briefing held at the Central Library of the Dhaka University on Tuesday.

Abul Hasnat Abdullah, another coordinator said “We are staging a movement not for the cancellation of the quota system in public service. Rather we demanded logical reform of the  system. Some media misinterpreted our demand. The movement is not against the freedom fighters. We are just against the quota of the grandchildren of the freedom fighters. Now the movement has turned into a mass movement and farmers, workers and expatriates all have expressed their solidarity with it.”

The students of Dhaka University and other universities have been on a movement for the last several days blocking roads and railways protesting the High Court court’s order reinstating quotas in government jobs.

Earlier, in the day, quota protesters filed an application with the Appellate Division seeking a stay on the effectiveness of the High Court order reinstating  the freedom fighter quota in public service.

The hearing on the application will be held in full bench of the Appellate Division on Wednesday.

Chamber judge Md Ashfaqul Islam fixed the date of hearing this noon.

On July 4, the HC adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by the state seeking a stay on the High Court verdict as the lawyer of the writ petitioner was not present.

Then the anti-quota movement spread across the country.

In such a situation, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters that the quota protesters can appeal to the Appellate Division if they want.

The quota system, which reserved 56 percent of positions in government jobs for various quotas, was abolished in 2018. This decision was challenged in 2021 by descendants of freedom fighters, leading to a High Court ruling on June 5, 2024, declaring the abolition of the freedom fighters’ quota illegal.

The government subsequently applied to the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division to suspend the order.

On July 4, a six-judge bench led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan heard the application. The Appellate Division upheld the High Court’s verdict temporarily and instructed the state to file a leave-to-appeal once the full verdict is published, adjourning the case hearing.