DHAKA, Bangladesh

Hundreds of people were injured Monday on university campuses across Bangladesh as students protesting over quotas for government jobs battled counter-protesters loyal to the country's ruling party.

The clashes ensued after thousands of students gathered on Dhaka University’s campus to protest remarks by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina against them.

Hasina on Sunday labeled the protesting students as the families of Razakar, a paramilitary volunteer force that collaborated with the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.

The students have been protesting after the High Court ordered the reinstatement of a quota system for government jobs that was abolished in 2018.

The system reserves 56% of government job entry positions for certain demographics and classes. Of the current 56% quota, 30% of all jobs in the public sector are reserved for the families of those who participated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Police also took up positions and erected barricades to prevent rallies.

Md Mizanur Rahman, an official of the emergency unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), confirmed that 250 students have received treatment and of them 11 have been admitted to the hospital, the local Channel 24 news channel reported.

A police official who requested anonymity also confirmed the number of injured, it added.

Clashes were also reported on other university campuses including in Jahangirnagar, Chattogram, Rajshahi and Sylhet.

Students at private universities in Dhaka also joined the protest, which caused serious traffic congestion in the capital.

Asif Mahmud, one of the coordinators of the movement, told reporters that more than 200 students had been injured in an attack by the ruling party’s student wing, the Bangladesh Students’ League (BSL).

BSL President Saddam Hossain, however, said that over a hundred of their leaders and activists were injured in attacks by the protesting students.

Nahid Islam, another coordinator of the movement, called the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, announced a new protest on Tuesday in against the attack on them at Dhaka University by the pro-ruling party student wing.

“We strongly condemn the statement made by the prime minister on the quota issue. We want her to withdraw her statement immediately. We will only return (to campuses) after the demand for quota reform is met," he said at a news conference Monday night.