The first reported deaths during the anti-discrimination student movement occurred on 16 July 2024. On that day, six people, including Abu Sayed, a student of the Department of English at Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, were killed. It was these killings that marked a turning point and led to the movement spreading across the country.
The Awami League government fell on 5 August 2024 in the face of the student-led mass movement. According to the official government gazette, 843 people lost their lives during the movement, while many others were injured.
The movement had effectively begun on 1 July 2024, when university students and job seekers, under the banner of the anti-discrimination student movement, held marches and rallies at Dhaka University and other universities across the country, demanding reforms to the quota system in public sector recruitment. The following day, demonstrators blocked the Shahbagh intersection in the capital.
The quota reform movement continued through a series of marches, rallies and road blockades. On 15 July, however, the protesters came under a major attack. On that day, the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists assaulted demonstrators at Dhaka University and several other universities using hockey sticks, iron rods, GI pipes and other improvised weapons, leaving many protesters injured.
The attacks intensified the anti-discrimination student movement across educational institutions nationwide. At the same time, assaults by various state agencies and organisations affiliated with the then ruling party also escalated.
Against this backdrop, the first fatalities linked to the quota reform movement occurred on 16 July, when six people were killed in Chattogram, Dhaka and Rangpur.
Footage of the death of Begum Rokeya University’s English department student Abu Sayed, who was shot by police, spread rapidly across social media.
The video shows him standing in the middle of the road with both arms outstretched as police fired multiple rounds towards his chest. The incident profoundly altered the course of the movement and triggered widespread public outrage across the country.
Alongside Abu Sayed, those reported to have been killed that day were Wasim Akram, a leader of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, furniture worker Md Faruk, student Faisal Ahmed in Chattogram, and street vendor Md Shahjahan and student Md Sabuj Ali in Dhaka.
In an effort to prevent images, videos and news of the killings from spreading, the government ordered the suspension of mobile internet services around university areas across the country on the afternoon of 16 July. That evening, users also experienced significant disruption to Facebook.
Following Abu Sayed's death, angry students vandalised and set fire to the Vice-Chancellor's residence at Begum Rokeya University that evening. Six cars and 13 motorcycles were also set ablaze on campus. In response, the university was declared closed indefinitely.
As the movement spread, all universities across the country were ordered to suspend academic activities until further notice. The University Grants Commission (UGC) instructed students to vacate their residential halls, while the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) was deployed.
A review of newspaper archives from 16 July 2024 presents a picture of widespread unrest. According to Prothom Alo reports, protesting students demonstrated in areas including the Central Shaheed Minar, Doel Chattar, Dhaka Medical College, Curzon Hall and Chankharpul. Students at Jagannath University were injured during attacks by Chhatra League activists. Students from several private universities also staged demonstrations in different parts of Dhaka, while protests took place at 10 universities outside the capital. Activists from the Chhatra League and Jubo League, along with police, carried out attacks on demonstrators.
From around 2:00 pm, rail communication between Dhaka and the rest of the country was suspended. The government also announced the closure of all secondary and higher secondary educational institutions under the Ministry of Education—including schools, colleges, madrasahs, technical institutions and polytechnic institutes—and suspended academic activities until further notice.
Colleges affiliated with the National University were likewise closed indefinitely, while ongoing HSC and equivalent examinations under all education boards were postponed. According to the report, these measures failed to contain the movement, which instead continued to gather momentum and spread nationwide.