Death toll 163 as diplomats confront Bangladesh FM over violence

Diplomats in Dhaka questioned Bangladeshi authorities' deadly response to widespread student protests following a presentation by the foreign minister that laid the blame for recent violence at demonstrators' feet, diplomatic officials said Monday.

What began as a movement against politicised admission quotas for sought-after government jobs has snowballed into some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure, with at least 163 people killed in clashes so far, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals.

More than 500 people, including some opposition leaders, have been arrested so far over days of clashes in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka sparked by protests against job quotas, police said Monday.

"At least 532 people have been arrested over the violence," Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP. "They include some BNP leaders," he added, referring to the opposition Bangladesh National Party.

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud summoned ambassadors for a briefing Sunday and showed them a 15-minute video that sources said focused on damage caused by protesters.

But a senior diplomatic official in Dhaka, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Monday that US ambassador Peter Haas said Mahmud was presenting a one-sided version of events.

"I am surprised you did not show the footage of police firing at unarmed protesters," the source quoted Haas as telling the minister.

The source added that Mahmud also did not respond to a question from a United Nations representative about the alleged use of UN-marked armoured personnel carriers and helicopters -- which the country has in its military inventories -- to suppress the protests.

The meeting came after Bangladesh's top court pared back the hiring quotas for highly desirable government jobs that have been at the centre of the protests.

The decision curtailed the number of reserved jobs from 56 percent of all positions to seven percent, most of which will still be set aside for the children and grandchildren of "freedom fighters" from Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.

While the decision represented a substantial reduction to the contentious "freedom fighter" category, it fell short of protesters' demands to scrap it altogether.

Critics say the quota has been used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's ruling Awami League.

A spokesman for Students Against Discrimination, the main group organising the demonstrations, told AFP: "We won't call off our protests until the government issues an order reflecting our demands."

Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Since the crackdown on protests began, some demonstrators have said they will not be satisfied until Hasina's government steps down.