July 15, 2024: Chhatra League attacks quota protesters

Brutal violence descended on July 15, 2024, as activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League launched coordinated attacks on students protesting for reforms in the public service quota system. The most harrowing scenes unfolded on the Dhaka University campus, where pitched battles between helmet-clad BCL activists and unarmed demonstrators raged for nearly five hours, leaving over 300 people injured, mostly protesters, including women, but also several BCL activists.

Armed with sticks and iron rods, hundreds of BCL activists, many reportedly brought in from outside the university, swept across campus, beating demonstrators wherever they found them. Even female students were not spared, as attackers were seen hitting them with sticks in full view of onlookers. Many injured students, bleeding and terrified, ran for their lives through the streets littered with brick chunks from the clashes.

At one point, the protesters retaliated, throwing bricks and beating back some BCL activists. But the violence was far from confined to the campus.

Later in the evening, a group of BCL activists stormed the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where injured protesters were receiving treatment. Their presence sparked panic among doctors, nurses, patients, and attendants. Medical services were severely disrupted.

According to police sources, 297 people were treated at DMCH and six more at the Sarkari Karmachari Hospital.

"We don't know the exact figure, but we estimate that over 200 of our fellow demonstrators were injured, and many are in serious condition," said Nahid Islam, one of the movement's coordinators.

The wave of violence extended far beyond the capital. Students from Jagannath University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Chittagong University, and Eden Mohila College also came under attack by BCL activists during quota reform protests. The attacks came just hours after Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader warned of a "fitting reply" to student leaders who referred to themselves as Razakars.

At a government function earlier in the day, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina also expressed outrage at the protesters' slogans. "They don't know how the Pakistan occupation forces and Razakar Bahini tortured people. So, they don't feel ashamed to call themselves Razakars," she said at the signing ceremony of Annual Performance Agreements for FY 2024-25.

On the Jahangirnagar University campus, members of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement began a march around 6:30pm. By 7:00pm, at least 50 students were injured in an attack allegedly carried out by BCL activists from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall. Twenty of the injured required referral to private hospitals due to their worsening condition.

That evening, students staged a sit-in in front of the vice-chancellor's residence. Around midnight, BCL activists began hurling brick chunks at the protesters. Some students scaled the wall of the compound and opened the gates to allow others inside for safety.

In Chattogram, violence erupted around 3:30pm near the Sholashahar Railway Station after BCL activists attacked quota reform activists. Earlier, they had seized the key to the Chittagong University shuttle train and halted it. Talat Mahmud, a student leader, was beaten up and forcibly taken to the proctor's office.

Meanwhile, 20 students of Jagannath University who had joined the protest at DU were injured and treated at DMCH. "We were peacefully protesting when BCL activists attacked us with weapons and sticks," said JnU student Junayed Islam.

At Eden Mohila College, four students were reportedly beaten up by BCL activists around 11:30pm.

At Rajshahi University, at least four students were injured in an attack by BCL activists around 6:20pm. "They started beating us and ordered us to go back to our halls. I barely escaped," said one student, Nasim.