Abu Sayeed's killing sparks outrage, triggers uprising

FE Team | Published: July 15, 2025 23:58:14

The 16th July last year was marked with fierce clashes between Bangladesh Chhatra League ((now banned student wing of fascist Awami League), police and anti-discrimination student movement protesters across the country, leaving at least six people, including Abu Sayeed, dead while government deployed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in six districts to resist the movement, reports BSS.
The government declared closure of all universities, colleges and secondary schools across the country and suspended HSC and equivalent examination of July 18, asking the university students to vacate halls.
As the quota reform protesters were staging demonstrations nationwide on July 16 protesting Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists' attacks on Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University students on July 15 and early on July 16, BCL men again attacked on the protesters across the country while police opened fire at BRUR killing its student Abu Sayeed.
On the day students from private universities and colleges also joined the protest across the country.
According to Amnesty International, by the afternoon of July 16, police fired tear gas and charged with batons drawn at protesters in front of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) where students had gathered, led by Abu Sayeed, a protest coordinator.
Abu Sayeed, a student of the English department at the BRUR, stood his ground. As the police closed in, he spread his arms wide open, in a moment of defiance when at least two police officers discharged 12-gauge shotguns directly towards him from across the street - a distance of merely 15 meters.
The video of Sayeed's brutal killing sparked outrage across the country and encouraged the people from all walks of life to take to the streets, turning the 'quota reform movement' into a massive uprising against the Awami League government.
Besides, five more people, including two students, were killed in Dhaka and Chattogram and several hundred sustained injuries on the same day as the police and BCL activists jointly launched a heavy crackdown on the anti-discrimination student movement protesters across the country.
Two youths were killed during clashes in Dhaka College and Science Lab areas between the BCL men and protesters. They were identified as Md Shajahan ,24, a hawker who had a makeshift shop in front of Balaka Cinema Hall, and Sabuj Ali ,25, son of Badsha Ali and Surja Banu, of Nilphamari Sadar.
On the day, the anti-discrimination student protesters in the capital blocked key intersections in the capital, including Jatrabari, Science Lab, Pragati Sarani, Shantinagar, Badda, Motijheel Shapla Chattar, Tantibazar, Uttara, and Beribandh, bringing traffic to a halt.