Students of Comilla University, under the banner of "Bangla Blockade", blocked the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in the afternoon today, protesting the reinstatement of the quota system in government jobs.

Vehicles were stuck on both sides of the highway following the blockade.

The students staged a sit-in on the busy highway, a commercial artery connecting the capital and the port city, at Kotbari crossing in Cumilla Sadar South upazila.

CoU proctor Kazi Omar Siddique said, "We are on the highway along with law enforcers, keeping an eye on the students' activity."

The students have taken to the streets for the seventh straight day, planning to block key intersections in the capital and highways next to campuses across the country.

Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sadar South Police Station, said, "There are sufficient number of law enforcers on the highway."

Students of Comilla University are staging a blockade programme for the third straight day.

The protests by students countrywide intensified after the Supreme Court on July 4 upheld a High Court verdict that declared a 2018 government circular abolishing the quota system in public service illegal.

The students are demanding the reinstatement of the circular that abolished the 30 percent quota system for children of freedom fighters.

In the wake of massive student protests for reforms, the government in 2018 issued a circular abolishing the quota system.