As the sun rose on July 31, 2024, thousands of students, teachers, and citizens across Bangladesh prepared to join the March for Justice, a countrywide programme organised by Students Against Discrimination.
On July 29, 2024, the Awami League-led 14-party alliance recommended that the government ban Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, citing their alleged involvement in anti-state activities.
By July 28, more than 2.13 lakh people—most of them unnamed—had been accused in nearly 200 cases filed with police stations across the capital in connection with the recent violence centring the quota reform movement.
On July 23, 2024, the government issued a circular radically overhauling the quota system in public service recruitment. According to the new directive, 93 percent of civil service positions would now be filled through merit-based recruitment, up from the previous 44 percent, while the remaining 7 percent would be reserved under various quotas.
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in sporadic clashes between law enforcers and protesters in Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Narsingdi on July 21, 2024 -- the second day of a nationwide curfew.
The first day of the nationwide curfew, imposed late on the night of July 19, was marked by widespread unrest and violence that left at least 21 people dead and scores injured across Dhaka and other parts of the country.
By July 19, 2024, Bangladesh stood at the brink of collapse as the quota reform movement spiralled into its deadliest phase.
On the public holiday marking Ashura, Dhaka and other parts of the country witnessed unrelenting student protests, road and highway blockades, symbolic funeral prayers, coffin processions, and repeated clashes with police and pro-government activists.
July 16, 2024, marked a grim escalation in the quota reform protests as violence swept across Bangladesh, leaving at least six people dead, including three students, and hundreds injured in fierce clashes involving protesters, Chhatra League activists, and police..In Chattogram, three peop
The student movement against the reinstatement of the quota system in public service recruitment escalated on July 3, 2024, as demonstrations expanded beyond university campuses to major highways and key city intersections, mounting pressure on the government.
Defying rain, warnings, exhaustion, anti-quota protests gained momentum
Though protests had already begun in response to a High Court verdict reinstating quotas in government jobs, it was on July 1, 2024, that the movement for reforms to the quota system truly took shape.