For years, the Chhatra League had been the Awami League's instrument of choice when it came to quelling any perceived notion of civil disobedience.
Whether it was obstructing people from exercising their right to vote during elections, wielding machetes and guns to stamp out protestors, or even executing political critics or opponents, the documented violence unleashed by the ruling party's "student wing" stained almost every chapter of the Awami League's 15-year reign.
Dubbed the "Helmet bahini (army)" for its creative use of motorcycle helmets to protect the identity and well-being of its members while causing large-scale havoc, the BCL earned the reputation of using torture, extortion, violence, sexual assault and murder to instil fear and maintain control.
Even journalists were not spared, falling prey to repeated attacks while covering events. Often, they reported having their camera equipment destroyed and phones snatched. Allegations also emerged that they were forced to delete the videos of violence from their mobile phones.
Damningly, on most of these occasions, law enforcement was present mere yards away, but made no attempt to stop attackers.
By 2018, attacking and dispersing protesters, no matter their cause, had become the BCL's forte.
In July that year, protests and counter-violence erupted at several universities, particularly Rajshahi University, in response to the quota reform movement. A month later, during the Road Safety Movement led by students, scores were injured when a group of people, clad in the infamous helmets and wielding blunt and sharp weapons, attacked them in Jigatola and Dhanmondi.
But by July 15, 2024, the situation had escalated to levels previously unimaginable.
Students were not only seeking change, they were now naming names and using terms most had never dared to voice.
After being called "razakars", a word with traitorous implications, by then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, they had dared to call out the AL premier as an 'autocrat' the day prior, drawing the ire of the ruling party.
Now, their henchmen, armed, helmet-clad and blood-thirsty as ever, were raring to go.
That no quarter would be given was made clear when, early on July 15, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, no less than a father figure within the BCL, remarked that the student wing was ready to give "befitting reply" to the "audacious behaviour of self-professed razakars".
This was not a throwaway statement, nor even a warning. This was the green signal; it was time to go to war.
Shortly after, Chhatra League President Saddam Hossain threatened dire consequences for "those who call themselves razakars".
At 3:00pm on July 15, students demonstrating peacefully at Dhaka University were met with the full force of the BCL's goons.
Leaders and activists from various branches mobilised and attacked, armed with sharp weapons, hockey sticks, rods, and pipes. Nearly half a dozen BCL men were seen firing pistols at various places around the campus.
Hostilities would rage for around the next six hours, with bruised and bloodied students running for their lives. Student halls would be methodically searched for "dissenting" forces, chase and counter-chases would ensue at random, and stones and bricks, used as ammunition, would litter the premises.
In the end, over 300 demonstrators would be injured.
While the battle in Dhaka was raging, BCL activists would initiate carnage at various campuses around the country, including Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University and Rajshahi University. Even in Jashore the students of Eden College were attacked for daring to raise their voice.
At JU, at least 50 students were injured after being attacked by BCL miscreants.
Yet, somehow, none of these were the BCL's worst act of the day.
That was reserved for around 7:00 in the evening, when over 50 BCL activists, armed with sticks and again shielded by those infamous helmets, violated one of the most sensitive places, storming the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Their aim: weed out injured protestors and attack their allies. Sinister as ever, they locked the hospital's main gate behind them, allowing no escape.
Again, journalists were targeted and phones were snatched. Again, law enforcement stood still.
During previous movements, the BCL's ruthless efficiency had largely served its purpose. Protests, in some cases after the government provided some leeway, lost momentum in the face of threat to life.
This time, although it appeared some ground would again be conceded by the regime, things had simply gone too far.
Adding fuel to the fire, pictures of helmet-clad men attacking students and leaving women bloodied would go viral, creating a social media firestorm.
Voices would unite against the BCL's violent tendencies.
The masses had also begun to take notice and raise their voices. One sign of that was seen as early as noon that day, when students from several private universities blocked roads in the capital's Notun Bazar and Kuril Bishwa Road to co-sign the anti-discrimination movement.
At the end of a day marked by unfettered violence, various coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement called for a protest march on college and university campuses across the country at 3:00pm the following day, also urging the general public to join.
The information would be quickly disseminated through social media, and people from all walks of life would heed the call.
What unfolded the next day would change the course of history.
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