The student group that led the protests this month has suspended the demonstrations until at least Friday.
Dhaka, Bangladesh:
Garment factories and banks in Bangladesh reopened on Wednesday after authorities relaxed a curfew imposed to contain deadly clashes sparked by student protests over civil service quotas.
At least 186 people were killed in last week's violence, according to an AFP report from police and hospitals, in one of the worst unrests in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.
Thousands of troops are patrolling cities across the South Asian country to maintain law and order, with most Bangladeshis still without internet access nearly a week after a nationwide lockdown was announced.
But after days of rampant chaos, calm returned to the streets and the country's economically important textile factories were able to resume operations after government approval.
“We were worried about the future of our company,” 40-year-old factory worker Khatun, who only wanted to give one name, told AFP.
Despite the disruption, Khatun said she supported the protesting students' demands for reforms to government hiring rules and was shocked by last week's violence.
“The government should implement all their demands,” she said. “Many of them were killed. They sacrificed themselves for future generations.”
The garment industry generates $50 billion in export revenue for Bangladesh annually and employs millions of young women who sew clothes for H&M, Zara, Gap and other leading international brands.
A spokesman for the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association told AFP that garment factories had resumed operations “all over the country”.
Hasina's Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan agreed to exempt garment workers from the ongoing curfew so they could return to work, the umbrella organization's spokesperson said.
The curfew was relaxed on Wednesday, allowing some resumption of trade, but for most Bengalis the curfew remains in place for 19 hours a day.
Banks, the stock exchange in the capital Dhaka and some government offices will also be open between 10am and 3pm, in line with the daily break in stay-at-home measures, government spokesman Shibli Sadiq told AFP.
'So much blood'
The student group that led this month's protests has suspended demonstrations until at least Friday, with one of its leaders saying they did not want reforms “at the cost of so much blood.”
Since the violence began last week, police have arrested at least 2,500 people.
Hasina's government says the stay-at-home order will be further relaxed as the situation improves.
Broadband internet was gradually restored on Tuesday evening, but mobile internet, a key means of communication for protest organizers, was still unavailable.
According to data from US regulator Netblocks, internet connectivity in Bangladesh was still at about 20 percent of normal levels.
According to government figures, there are about 18 million unemployed youth in Bangladesh. The reintroduction of the quota program in June, which had been suspended since 2018, has deeply shocked graduates, who are facing an acute job crisis.
Critics say the quota is being used to fill public jobs with supporters of Hasina's Awami League.
The Supreme Court on Sunday reduced the number of reserved jobs but fell short of protesters' demand to abolish the quotas altogether.
Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January, after a vote with no real opposition.
Human rights groups also accuse her government of abusing state institutions to consolidate its power and suppress dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)