On 17 July, outrage erupted against the then government and the pro-government student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League (now banned) following the death of student Abu Sayed in Rangpur in the bullets fired by the law enforcement.
The process of driving out the BCL members from various residential halls of Dhaka University, which had begun on the night of 16 July, reached its peak on 17 July.
By midday, protesting students had taken control of all the university dormitories, ousting the Chhatra League members. The enraged students also vandalised the rooms of top leaders of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s central, Dhaka University, and hall units.
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement had scheduled a gayebana janaza and a coffin procession on 17 July to honour those martyred on 16 July. The event was set to take place in front of the Raju Memorial Sculpture on the Dhaka University campus.
Shortly before the scheduled time, a few student activists, including Akhter Hossen (now member secretary of the National Citizen Party), arrived at the spot.
There, a heated argument broke out between them and members of the law enforcement agencies. Police arrested Akhter Hossen. As newspersons present there tried to speak to the police members, the law enforcement agency had thrown two sound grenades at them.
Due to the police obstruction, students organised the gayebana janaza in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s residence instead of at the Raju Memorial Sculpture.
After the prayer, around 4:15 pm, a coffin procession was brought out from the campus. Police fired several rounds of sound grenades and tear gas shells. Clashes between the police and students continued for more than two hours near the VC’s residence and the university’s Mol Chattar area.
On that day, Dhaka University Syndicate, the highest policymaking body of the university, convened an emergency meeting and declared the university closed for an indefinite period and ordered all residential students to vacate their dormitories.
Police conducted raids in the halls to enforce the order and forcibly evicted students.
Later that night (on 17 July), the then Awami League government shut down mobile internet access nationwide. However, before the shut down of mobile internet, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, one of the movement’s key coordinators and now an adviser to the interim government, had announced a “Complete Shutdown” on social media.
In a post on Facebook, he wrote, “We call for a Complete Shutdown across the country on 18 July in protest against the heinous attacks, killings, and to ensure justice, a terror-free campus, and rational reforms of the quota system.”
The memories of the July uprising are written in Asif Mahmud’s book ‘July: Matribhumi Othoba Mrityu’ (July: Motherland or Death), published by Prothoma in March this year. In the book, he describes the events of 17 July in detail.
He recounts that as the residential halls were under attack and bullets were fired during the implementation of the closure order, an officer from a state intelligence agency contacted him. They did not agree to sit for a discussion initially. But due to the situation, at one point they agreed to sit for a discussion on condition.
The movement’s coordinators, Nahid Islam, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, Abu Bakar Majumdar and he discussed among themselves in front of the Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall. Later, another coordinator Abdul Kader joined them there.
Asif Mahmud also writes in detail in the book the tactic they used to deceive the intelligence agencies. “Nahid bhai told me, ‘You don’t need to attend the discussion. Go home. While the talks are ongoing, you announce the next programme’.”