One year ago, Bangladesh entered its most turbulent phase of the Monsoon Revolution.
In the wake of deadly violence on July 17, students from private universities and other institutions unleashed mass protests across the country - sparking a nationwide shutdown, internet blackout, and fierce campus resistance.
By dawn, clashes had erupted in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Jatrabari and beyond.
What began as peaceful demonstrations under the Anti-Discriminatory Student Movement’s (ADSM) shutdown call quickly escalated when protesters, Awami League activists, and police clashed in multiple districts.
In the afternoon, the movement’s toll turned tragic. Farhan Faiyaz, a student at Dhaka Residential Model College, was shot dead in Dhanmondi 27.
Simultaneously, Dhaka Times journalist Hasan Mehedi fell to gunfire in Jatrabari while covering the unrest.
Dhaka Tribune journalist Meraj Mavis (Abu Meraj) was also injured by rubber bullet pellets while covering the movement on assignment at Mohammadpur bus stand area.
As criticism of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s televised address swelled online, the government throttled 4G networks by midday and cut broadband by night - effectively severing Bangladesh from the global internet.
Then-state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak defended the blackout as a cybersecurity measure against “rumors and misinformation.”
Fires swept key locations: early flames engulfed the Donia toll plaza on Mayor Hanif Flyover’s southeast end.
Later, the Disaster Management Directorate in Mohakhali, the Bangladesh Television building, and a Mirpur 10 police box were torched.
The Dhaka–Chittagong highway melted into gridlock, halting bus and truck services nationwide.
In a dramatic afternoon rescue, two helicopters airlifted stranded officers from the Canadian University of Bangladesh in Merul Badda.
Meanwhile, all HSC and equivalent exams slated for July 21, 23, and 25 were postponed, as were several government recruitment tests.
The government moved swiftly to contain the fallout.
A one-member judicial commission, chaired by Justice Khondaker Diliruzzaman, was formed to probe the violence and deaths linked to the quota reform protests.
Then-law minister Anisul Haque announced plans to expedite the Supreme Court hearing initially set for August 7.
Political leaders drove the narrative further apart.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader urged party cadres to confront “BNP- and Jamaat-backed agitators,” while then-information minister Mohammad Ali Arafat professed a desire for dialogue with protesting students.
BNP, for its part, offered moral support but denied direct involvement in the shutdown.
By nightfall, 229 platoons of BGB were deployed across Dhaka and beyond.
Press freedom groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists pleaded for safe media access after 22 journalists were injured covering the protests.