Bangladeshi students gather to commemorate one month since Hasina’s downfall

To commemorate the one-month anniversary of Sheikh Hasina’s downfall following violent protests, thousands of students demonstrated in Bangladesh on Thursday.

Participants in the “March for Martyrs” included workers, students, and relatives of those slain in the uprising. They carried the national flag and sang phrases like “Blood of the martyrs is our power.”

A nationwide rebellion against Hasina resulted from the anti-government rallies that began in July as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas.

The turmoil claimed the lives of over a thousand people, forcing Hasina to step down and leave for India on August 5—just in time to avoid mobs storming her official residence. After she left, the violence persisted for a few days.

After the bloodiest violence in the nation since its independence in 1971, Hasina’s administration was replaced by an interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. The new government’s goals were to execute reforms, hold new parliamentary elections, and restore stability.

“No official list of martyrs ever had my son’s name. “My son died in the protests, and I came here today to honor him and the victory his death brought,” Amir Ali remarked. “They asked us to come here to remember the martyrs.”

“We’ve got a new Bangladesh in exchange for their blood,” stated 26-year-old Nahid Islam, a major protest organizer and current member of Yunus’ cabinet. It is because of them that we live. Speech is once again free.

Among numerous reshuffles on Thursday was the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal. The governor of the central bank, the chief justice, and the chief of police, who oversaw the student crackdown, were among the authorities displaced by the administration shift.

The interim administration requested that the United Nations Human Rights Office send a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh to look into claims of human rights breaches during the recent deadly unrest. The mission was made public last Friday.