Private university students resist, internet shutdown

On 18 July, a countrywide ‘Complete Shutdown’ programme was carried out in response to a call by the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.

The programme was announced in protest of the ‘brutal attacks, killings by police, BGB, RAB and SWAT forces on peaceful student protesters, as well as to demand justice for the killed, a terror-free campus, and rational reforms of the quota system’.

One of the key coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyain, who is now serving as an adviser to the interim government had announced the programme on social media platform, Facebook around 8:00 pm the previous night.

In his Facebook post, Asif Mahmud had written that during the ‘Complete Shutdown’, no establishment except hospitals, media outlets, and essential services would remain open, and no vehicles except ambulances would be allowed on the roads.

He had urged students of all schools, colleges, universities, and madrasas across the country to make the programme a success.

As the residential halls of the Dhaka University were left empty following a police raid and attack on 17 July, it was guessed that the movement might fizzle out. However, strong resistance from private university students in the ‘Complete Shutdown’ on 18 July created a different scenario.

Law enforcement agencies were deployed heavily in different locations to suppress the protests that day. Members of the Awami League and its affiliated organisations were also seen with arms across various locations.

Due to road and railway blockade, Dhaka was almost completely disconnected from the rest of the country on 18 July. Even the metro rail stopped operating after 5:30 pm.

Major clashes erupted in Uttara, Merul Badda, Rampura, Malibagh, Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Nilkhet, Tejgaon, Shantinagar, Mohakhali, Shanir Akhra, Kazla, Jatrabari, and other parts of Dhaka that day. Protesters attacked the BTV building in Rampura.

The disaster management department’s office in Mohakhali, several police boxes, and some vehicles parked in front of the Shetu Bhaban in Banani were set ablaze.

A total of 27 people were martyred in clashes across the country on 18 July (19 in Dhaka and 8 elsewhere). Plus, nearly 1,500 were injured. The government shut down the broadband internet that night. Earlier, mobile internet had already been blocked on 17 July night, rendering the country completely offline on the 18th.

At midnight on 18 July, Asif Mahmud sent a SMS to journalists confirming that the ‘Complete Shutdown’ programme would continue across the country on 19 July as well.

Reflecting on this period, Asif Mahmud later wrote a book titled ‘July: Matribhumi Othoba Mrityu’ (July: Motherland or Death). In that book published by Prothoma Prokashon in this March, he wrote, “Our position was clear, after so many lives were lost, the movement could no longer remain confined to just the quota issue.”

The massive use of force on 18 July was also highlighted in a report titled ‘OHCHR Fact-Finding Report: Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh’.

The report stated that a core committee meeting held on 18 July, chaired by the then home minister and attended by senior officials from the police, BGB, RAB, army, DGFI, and other security and intelligence agencies, planned a widespread arrest drive (which included block raids as well) in details.

The minister also ordered the internet shutdown, and instructions were issued to hide human rights violation, carry out indiscriminate arrest drives and suppress peaceful protests.