As the quota protests continued to ramp up across the country, thousands of students staged blockade programmes at 11 locations in Dhaka, held demonstrations at nine universities, blocked the railway at three places, and blocked six highways on this day last year.
The student leaders issued a three-day ultimatum to the government to fulfil their demands after observing the nationwide "Bangla Blockade" programme for the second consecutive day.
July 8, 2024 was the day that marked the formation of an entity that was to become a household name in a matter of days.
A 65-member committee was formed under the banner of the "Students Against Discrimination", involving university students from across the country. Nahid Islam, one of the leading organisers of the committee, made a single demand. The demand was to abolish unreasonable and discriminatory quotas in all grades of government jobs and pass a law in parliament keeping only a minimum quota for the disadvantaged groups as per the constitution.
"We have given our one-point demand, where the court has no jurisdiction. It is the responsibility of the executive branch and the government alone to do this. As a result, the ball is now in the government's court. There is no point in showing it to the court now. The government can decide what the course of this movement will be," he said.
He said the committee would work towards to build a larger blockade on July 10.
The then prime minister Sheikh Hasina left that day on a three-day trip to China. In her absence, three ministers including then road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and law minister Anisul Huq, called for restraint and requested students to refrain from actions that cause public hardship while the quota issue was still with the Appellate Division of the High Court.
Earlier in the day, the student protesters blocked key points, including Shahbagh, Hotel Intercontinental intersection, Banglamotor, Minto Road, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Katabon, Nilkhet, Science Lab, Chankharpul and Gulistan Zero Point, in the capital.
Simultaneously, job seekers and students from different universities and colleges across the country blocked highways and railways in their respective areas.
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