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DHAKA, Aug 3, 2026 (BSS) - On this day back in 2024, people from all walks of life gathered at the base of Central Shaheed Minar in the city, waiting for the final call to oust the Sheikh Hasina-led government. 

Nahid Islam, then the chief coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM) and now the convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), came and declared nationwide non-cooperation until the government resigns.

The early nine-point demand transformed into one that the government must quit since the protesters perceived it had no legitimacy to be in power by killing and injuring thousands of protesters.

Since morning, different parts of the country, particularly the divisional cities, erupted in protests against the murderous government, condemning indiscriminate killings, attacks and arrests.

At around 3:30 pm, frontline ADSM coordinators arrived at the Shaheed Minar, where a rally was already underway. Around 5:30 pm, before thousands of participants, Nahid Islam announced the one-point demand calling for the government's fall.

"To ensure safety of lives and establish justice in society, we have reached the decision of a one-point demand. The demand is the fall of this government, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the abolition of fascism," said Nahid.

Earlier that morning, Sheikh Hasina had invited the students for dialogue at Ganabhaban. Alluding to this, Nahid said at the Shaheed Minar rally, "You open the door and wait. We are not coming for dialogue; we are coming to oust you."

Nahid also announced a programme of nationwide non-cooperation. During the gathering, protesters burnt three effigies of Sheikh Hasina on the road in front of the Shaheed Minar.

Elsewhere in Dhaka, musicians held a protest gathering at Rabindra Sarobar in Dhanmondi in the afternoon, also demanding the government's resignation.

On the same day, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir issued a statement urging the government to step down without further bloodshed and calling on law enforcement agencies and the administration not to use force against protesting students.

He also urged the government to end the killings, repression and violence and to accept the students' demands without further delay.

"I call upon the murderous government to stop the killing, torture, suppression, persecution, terrorism and accept the demands of the students without delaying another moment, taking any more lives, shedding any more blood and creating violence," the BNP leader said.

The anti-government movement came out of a student-led movement which protested a High Court decision to reinstate quotas in government jobs. As protests grew across campuses and subsequently in different parts of the country, the government applied force, killing hundreds of protesters. The anti-quota movement then turned into an uprising that led to fall of fascist Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024.