The government has installed a July memorial monument at Shahbagh in the capital as part of a broader initiative to commemorate the July uprising through similar installations across the country.
The structure, inaugurated on Tuesday, is one of the 64 planned for key public locations in every district of Bangladesh.
Standing 18 feet tall with a six-foot diameter, the concrete monument bears slogans, graffiti, and poems from last year’s July movement.
An official from the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs confirmed to Dhaka Tribune that the project was approved by the ministry and executed by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.
Similar monuments have already been installed in Narayanganj and Chittagong, while construction in other districts is reportedly underway.
The Shahbagh installation replaces a previous structure that had drawn attention after it was suddenly demolished in the early hours of July 13.
The demolition caused confusion over which government authority had ordered its removal, with several departments initially denying involvement.
Officials from Dhaka South City Corporation later confirmed that the removal was part of preparations for the new memorial, in line with the national plan.
However, the incident reignited debates over the identity of the demolished structure, which many believed to be “Projonmo Chattar,” a symbol of the 2013 Gonojagoron Moncho movement.
Activists from the movement later clarified that the demolished installation was not the original “Projonmo Chattar.”
The structure, built in 2008 by former Awami League MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury Shawon for commercial purposes, had been abandoned for years and repurposed unofficially over time.
The new Shahbagh monument aims to formally preserve the memory of the July uprising and give it a nationally recognized space in the public consciousness.
According to officials, each district monument will follow a similar design, reinforcing a unified message of remembrance and resistance across the country.
