Photo : Collected

DHAKA, Aug 1, 2025 (BSS) - The Anti-discrimination Student Movement leaders on August 2 last year declared a nationwide demonstration scheduled for August 3 and a non-cooperation movement from August 4, to protest the killings and press home their pre-declared nine-point demand, including an apology from the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Mahin Sarker, a coordinator of the quota reform movement, made the announcement through a Whatsapp message that night, urging the people from all walks of life to join programmes.

Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, a key-coordinator of the movement and now an adviser to the interim government, had also shared the same message while Abdul Hannan, another coordinator, in a Facebook live declared that they would stage demonstrations nationwide on August 3.

He said that an all-out non-cooperation movement would be observed from August 4 while no one would pay taxes and utility bills.

The Bangladesh Secretariat and all government and private offices would remain closed while no vehicle would be allowed to enter the Prime Minister's official Gonobhaban residence and the President's official residence Bangabhaban.

Urging all not to cooperate with the then government, Hannan called upon the country's people to carry out those programmes so that the then government could no longer function.

Earlier that day, six movement coordinators Nahid Islam, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, Asif Mahmud, Nusrat Tabassum, and Abu Baker Mojumder, who were released from Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Detective Branch custody on August 1, in a joint statement vowed to continue their protests, seeking justice for the killings during the movement.

Though police had claimed that student leaders were taken to DB custody for their security, the coordinators said that they had never sought any protection from police and thus their detention was 'unconstitutional and unlawful.'

The coordinators said that they staged a hunger strike from July 30 in the custody, but it was kept secret from their families while they were forced to sit at the dining table at the detective office.

About the statement they had made from the DB office regarding withdrawal of the protest, the movement leaders said they did not give the statement voluntarily.

However, on August 2, thousands of people from all walks of life staged huge demonstrations across the country including in the capital defying rain, demanding justice for those killed in the violence and release of the arrestees and detainees centering the quota reform movement.

At least two people including a police man were killed in Habiganj and Khulna that day and 150 injured as fierce clashes erupted in several districts including in the capital when police accompanied by the then ruling party activists attacked the protesters during the demonstrations.

According to a Dhaka based leading English daily- The Daily Star- a labourer was killed in Habiganj while police said a constable died after he was assaulted by protesters in Khulna.

Besides, clashes took place in Uttara in the capital, Sylhet, Khulna, Narsingdi, Chattogram and Noakhali during processions of the 'anti-discrimination student movement'.

In the capital's Uttara-11, at least three people were injured by rubber bullets in a clash between protesters, police and the then ruling party activists.

According to media reports, the clash broke out when the then ruling party supporters "attacked marching students".

Besides, protesters blocked roads in the capital's Science Lab and Mirpur-10 intersections, Aftabnagar and Shahbagh while several thousand protesters, mostly students, blocked Dhaka-Tangail Highway in Tangail Town Bypass area that day.

In the capital, a group of students, teachers, cultural organisations, guardians and civil society members, brought out a mass procession named "Droho Jatra" around 3pm from in front of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC), demanding an end to mass arrests, justice for the "July massacre", release of arrested students, withdrawal of curfew, reopening of educational institutions, and the resignation of the then government.
From the programme, the protesters declared to hold a mass procession at 3pm on July 3 to press home their one-point demand -- resignation of the Sheikh Hasina-led government.

Thousands of protesters joined the procession holding placards with slogans like "Step Down Hasina," "Chhatro Hottar Bichar Chai," and "Bullets May Hit, But We Won't Quit".

Former Jahangirnagar University teacher Professor Anu Muhammad addressed a huge rally before starting the 'Droho Jatra'. The procession ended reaching the Central Shaheed Minar after parading through different streets where more people joined the protesters.

On the same day, a group of urban planners, authors, poets, and publishers under the banner of 'Poets and Writers against Countrywide Arrests and Oppression', some teachers and rights activists under the banner of 'Pratibad Mancha' and medical students and doctors also staged separate demonstrations in the city.

That day, a total of 626 faculty members of BRAC University expressed solidarity with the ongoing protest.

Referring to media reports, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Sanjay Wijesekera on August 2 in a statement last year expressed deep concern over the impact of violence and the unrest centering the quota reform movement.

"UNICEF has now confirmed that at least 32 children were killed during July's protests, with many more injured and detained. This is a terrible loss. UNICEF condemns all acts of violence," he said after going back from Bangladesh.

According to the UNICEF statement, more than 200 people, including at least 32 children, were killed in clashes with security forces, and many more were injured and detained during the student protests in July.
Since the country witnessed a widespread violence from July 16 to July 21, the government launched a crackdown on protesting students and opposition political parties while the law enforcers arrested over 10,000 people, including students, leaders, and activists of opposition political parties, in a special 'combing operation' over a week until August 2 last year.

That day, Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader said even after fulfilling the students' demand for quota reform, a vested quarter was continuing an ill-effort to gain interest by playing the government-versus-students game.