Photos: Deadly unrest in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is experiencing its worst civil unrest in more than a decade as over 30 have died over the last three days including 25 on Thursday, according to Agence France-Presse, as students launched protests against a discriminatory job quota system.

The anti-quota protesters have been facing off against security forces and groups aligned with the ruling Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A Facebook post from the state-run Bangladesh Television station in Dhaka appealed for help saying the facility was in flames and many people were locked inside.

“I escaped by leaping over the wall but some of my colleagues got stuck inside. The attackers entered the building and set furniture on fire,” a producer at the station told the Associated Press by phone.

Later, an official at the station told AFP that all had been evacuated from the building.

The student protests began last week after the High Court in June reinstated a quota that reserves 30% of civil service jobs for relatives of those who fought in the 1971 war that resulted in Bangladesh’s independence. 

On Thursday, the government said it was ready for immediate talks with the protesters.