Different student organisations marked 17 July at the University of Dhaka on Friday with a marathon, a three-day exhibition and a symbolic coffin march, recalling the July 2024 uprising and demanding justice for those killed during the movement.
Islami Chhatra Shibir held a “Catch the League” marathon in the morning and opened an exhibition titled July Written in Blood, while Jatiya Chhatra Shakti later staged a coffin march and solidarity rally on the campus.
Shibir organised its programme to mark what it called “Anti-Terrorism Day” and commemorate the expulsion of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists from the university’s residential halls on 17 July 2024.
The marathon began at Curzon Hall at 6am with students from different departments and passed through the Central Shaheed Minar, the Teacher-Student Centre, the university gate, Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall and Masterda Surja Sen Hall before ending at the Arts Building.
At 8am, Dhaka University Central Students’ Union Vice-President Sadiq Kayem inaugurated the three-day exhibition at Battala. The exhibition, which will continue until 19 July, features photographs, documents, movement memorabilia, tributes to those killed during the uprising, revolutionary songs and cultural programmes.
Speaking at the inauguration, Sadiq said the removal of Chhatra League activists from the halls on 17 July had marked the beginning of what he described as a “new liberation”, which culminated in the fall of the previous government on 5 August.
“There is no alternative to implementing the July Charter to ensure justice for the July martyrs and to build the Bangladesh they envisioned,” he said. Later in the day, Jatiya Chhatra Shakti held a symbolic coffin march and solidarity rally, demanding justice for the killings during the July uprising.
The march began after Friday prayers from the Faculty of Social Sciences area near the university’s Central Mosque. Participants marched through the residential hall area and VC Chattar before gathering at the Raju Memorial Sculpture.
They carried placards and chanted slogans demanding trials over the killings and punishment for those responsible. Addressing the rally, Jatiya Chhatra Shakti Central President Jahid Ahsan called for swift and exemplary punishment of those involved in the July killings.
He also demanded state reforms, stronger democratic institutions and the establishment of an accountable and non-discriminatory state system.
Expressing solidarity with the programme, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal’s DU unit General Secretary Nahiduzzaman Shipon said the uprising had guided the country’s freedom-seeking people and created greater space for democracy and freedom of expression.
Representatives from Jatiya Chhatra Shakti, Chhatra Odhikar Parishad, Islami Chhatra Shibir and Islami Shashontantro Chhatra Andolon also spoke at the rally.
