As the sun rose on Ashura, Bangladesh woke up to a day filled with grief intertwined with a determination to resist.
It was a public holiday marking the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Husayn, at the hands of the Umayyad army, as he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad Caliph.
The historical paradigm of sacrifice in the face of tyranny and oppression reverberated across the country, while the people of Rangpur prepared for the burial of Abu Sayed, killed by police the previous day.
His martyrdom was as symbolic as it was real, as were those of students Wasim Akram and Faisal Ahmed, furniture shop employee Md Faruk in Chittagong; and those of hawker Md Shahjahan and Sabuj Ali in Dhaka.
At 9:30am, people gathered in Pirganj for his funeral prayer and across the country, from Dhaka's Raju Sculpture to Chittagong and Rangpur, students lit candles and marched, honouring the fallen in the quota protests.
The previous night, the students accomplished something which seemed rather impossible. In an awe-inspiring defiance, they stormed residential halls in DU, JU, targeting the BCL members who had long wielded political control. The BCL members were weeded out, their rooms ransacked.
AL's General Secretary Obaidul Quader's earlier threat that the BCL members are enough to control the protesters rang hollow.
Moreover, in 14 halls from DU, including girls' halls Rokeya, Shamsunnahar, Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, and Kabi Sufia Kamal, students forced hall authorities to sign pledges banning student politics.
To tackle the situation, the University Grants Commission ordered the closure of all universities and to vacating of halls, which only fuelled the students' defiance.
At JU, students surrounded administrative buildings, protesting closure orders, refusing to let the AL allies in the administration dictate their fate. In Gopalganj, students at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University encircled the vice-chancellor's residence, chanting, "It's my hall, I'll stay, who are you to stop me?"
By midday, the students' planned memorial prayers and coffin processions took place. At DU, students gathered at 2:00pm near the Raju Memorial Sculpture for a Gayebana Janaza (absentee funeral prayer) for the martyrs killed on July 16, including Abu Sayed.
The symbolic coffins they carried, draped in white cloth, were not just for mourning but a testament to their refusal to let these sacrifices be forgotten.
Yet, before the prayer could begin, police attacked with tear gas and sound grenades, scattering the crowd. Undeterred, the students regrouped at 3:00 PM outside the VC's residence, completing the janaza in defiance of the chaos.
The situation escalated as students faced off against the BCL goons and police across Dhaka.
At Nilkhet intersection, they blocked roads, chanting, "We won't let our brothers' blood go in vain." In Shonir Akhra, clashes with police and the BCL turned the area into a battleground, with students refusing to yield.
In Narayanganj, a mournful procession saw students march with the names of the fallen. Sayeed, Wasim, and Foysal were written on their bodies, their cries of grief akin to the laments of Muharram.
This was their Karbala, a fight against a modern-day Yazid in the form of the Hasina regime.
Across the country, students blocked roads and railways, from Khulna to Munshiganj, rejecting attempts to intimidate them. In Madaripur, the BCL attacked a highway blockade, injuring five students, but the protesters held their ground. In Brahmanbaria, they tore banners and harassed female students, only to face fierce resistance as the women continued their march.
As evening fell, the government's response grew harsher. With security forces like police, RAB, BGB, and SWAT encircling campuses and slowing internet services to stifle communication.
Yet, the students' spirit remained unbroken. At RU, they locked administrators, including the vice-chancellor, in their building for four hours, demanding accountability for the quota system and the BCL violence. Security forces eventually intervened with tear gas, but the students refused to bow to intimidation. At JU, power cuts and armoured vehicles at midnight signalled an escalating crackdown. The protestors guarded their halls like sentinels of their cause.
At 7:30pm, then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the nation, announcing a judicial inquiry into the deaths and urging patience until a Supreme Court ruling. Her words rang hollow against the students' lived reality of the brutality. Hours later, coordinator Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan announced a "complete shutdown" for July 18 through his Facebook post, closing all institutions except emergency services.
The world took notice
The UN and the US condemned the violence, urging protection for peaceful protesters. At home, 22 student organisations, including Islami Chhatra Shibir, and 22 professional groups issued statements blaming the regime for the attacks. They likened the killings to the atrocities of 1971.
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