On July 18 last year, during the daylong shutdown, protesters under the anti-discrimination student movement banner staged demonstrations blocking all roads and railways across the country. Collage Photo- Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

DHAKA, July 17, 2025 (BSS) - At least 31 people, including 11 students and a journalist, were killed across the country on July 18 last year as law enforcement agencies launched crackdown on the protesters during the "complete shutdown" that drew huge public participation.

According to Bangla daily Samakal, 24 were killed in the capital Dhaka, two each in Chattogram and Narsingdi and one each in Rangpur, Savar and Madaripur.

The daily reported that nearly 1,500 people were injured on the day, raising the death toll to 37 as of that day, including the casualties of July 16.

During the daylong shutdown, protesters under the anti-discrimination student movement banner staged demonstrations blocking all roads and railways across the country carrying different placards and chanted slogans like "Jegeche Re Jegeche, Chhatro Somaj Jegeche," "Shohider Rokto, Britha Jethe Debona," "Amar Sonar Banglai, Boishommer Tie Nai."

However, police crackdown on the protesters sparked outrages prompting the agitators setting fire to key government installations, including the BTV headquarters in Rampura and the Department of Disaster Management, National Data Center and Setu Bhaban in Mohakhali in the city that night.

Several police boxes were also torched or vandalized, including in Mirpur, Mohakhali and Badda in the city. The protesters also set fire to Uttara East Police Station.

From noon until late night, most rail connections to Dhaka were suspended. The government shut down internet access nationwide after 9pm on July 18 while the then ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak justified the internet shutdown as a "situational necessity."

Earlier, around 12:30 pm, demonstrators set fire to the toll plaza of the Mayor Hanif Flyover in Jatrabari.

Besides, the government deployed 229 platoons of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) across the country, including in Dhaka, in a bid to contain the movement and maintain law and order. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) also imposed an indefinite ban on public gatherings in the capital.

As part of the shutdown, demonstrators set fire to a police box under the metro line at the Mirpur-10 roundabout. Authorities subsequently suspended metro rail operations.

Clashes between protesters and police broke out in various divisions, districts and upazilas across the country. In some places, the then ruling party's student and youth wings Chhatra League and Jubo League also joined the police, turning the conflict into a three-way confrontation.

As a stiff resistance was made in Jatrabari and Kajla area on July 16 by protesters, they continued blocking the Dhaka-Chattogram highway from that day evening until the government imposed a curfew in the midnight on July 19.

After the universities were declared closure for indefinite period and students of public universities were forcefully ousted from their dormitories by July 17, the students of the public universities and madrasahs and general people actually took the lead of the street movement from July 18.  

As the situation across the country was deteriorating rapidly, at an emergency press briefing on July 18, the then Law Minister Anisul Huq said, "The government is willing to sit for talks with the demonstrators. The Prime Minister has assigned me and the education minister to facilitate this dialogue."

Responding to the law minister, Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, a key-coordinator of the quota reforms movement, posted on his Facebook, "There can be no dialogue in the face of bullets. I would rather embrace death than betray the blood that has been spilled."

Another coordinator of the movement, Nahid Islam, said, "The government is solely responsible for the violent situation, as it unleashed brutality on a peaceful protest. There can be no negotiations over the blood of martyrs. The government must find a solution. The shutdown will continue tomorrow (July 18) and gayebana janaza will be held after Jummah prayers (for those who were killed on July 18)."

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court set Sunday (July 21) for hearing on a leave-to-appeal petition filed against the High Court verdict that had earlier declared the government's 2018 circular abolishing the quota system in government jobs illegal.

Besides, police formed a four-member probe committee on the death of Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayeed in Rangpur.

The government also formed a one-member inquiry commission to investigate the six deaths on July 16 and the incidents of violence, arson, looting and alleged acts of terrorism linked to the anti-quota protests that took place up to July 18.

Apart from Jatrabari, the people also built a strong resistance in Uttara on July 18 following the deaths of several private university students as police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members opened fire at the protesters on that day. At one stage, protesters set fire to the Uttara East Police Station.

According to media reports, clashes between members of law enforcement agencies took place across the city, including Merul Badda, Rampura, Malibagh, Dhanmondi, Mirpur-10, Nilkhet, Azimpur, Tejgaon, Shantinagar, Mohakhali, Shanir Akhra, Kajla and Jatrabari. Neighborhoods of those areas turned into veritable battlegrounds.

As student protesters at one stage retaliated to the police, some of the cops took shelter inside Canadian University at Merul Badda in the city while they were later rescued by RAB helicopter from the roof of the university.

RAB personnel, however, were accused of firing bullets from helicopters across the city during the protest on that day while violent confrontations between members of law enforcement agencies and protesters were reported in 47 districts.

That day, a number of Chhatra League leaders declared resignation from the organization, including 14 from Kushtia Medical College, six from Rangamati, two from Moulvibazar, and one each from Rajshahi and Shariatpur. Over 100 leaders and activists from the Dhaka University Chhatra League also resigned in protest of attacks by Chhatra League members on demonstrating students.

As the growing escalation centering the quota reform protests drew international community attention, UN Secretary-General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated, "Peaceful protest is a fundamental human right. 

The government of Bangladesh must ensure that this right is protected."
However, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader claimed that "well-trained BNP-Jamaat cadres were responsible for the countrywide violence".