The July that rocked Bangladesh / July 6, 2024: 'Bangla Blockade' announced

 The July that rocked Bangladesh/ July 6, 2024: 'Bangla Blockade' announced.

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The streets of Dhaka and cities across Bangladesh fill with chants, placards, and determination as the student movement enters its sixth consecutive day. Today marks a turning point -- protesters declare a countrywide "Bangla Blockade", vowing to bring life to a standstill until their demands are met.

On July 6, 2024, as part of the ongoing movement against the reinstatement of the quota system in government jobs, thousands of students blocked the Shahbagh intersection for an hour. FILE PHOTO

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At the heart of the capital, Shahbagh intersection -- the symbolic ground zero of student uprisings -- is once again blocked. By mid-afternoon, several thousand students pour into the streets, weaving through Dhaka University, BUET, and Eden College campuses before converging on Shahbagh. They raise slogans: "Dofa ek, dabi ek: quota not come back!", "Quota na medha -- medha, medha!"

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Nahid Islam, a Dhaka University student and key organiser, announces that the "Bangla Blockade" will now take place daily from 3:00pm at key intersections in the capital as well as highways across the country.

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"We will not return to classrooms until our demands are met," he declares to a cheering crowd, urging parents to join the movement and accusing the ruling party's student activists of attempting to disrupt the protests. As the hours stretch on, police presence looms nearby, while the demonstrators remain non-violent.

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Elsewhere in Dhaka, Jagannath University students block the Tanti Bazar intersection, joined by students from Kabi Nazrul Government College and Shaheed Suhrawardy College. Their march parades through the streets before settling into an hours-long blockade that brings traffic to a halt.

The students' demands remain unchanged: abolish the reinstated quotas in government jobs; form a commission to revise the quota system, ensuring fairness and meritocracy; and introduce limits on the number of times an individual may use quota privileges. Their frustration runs deep, intensified by the Appellate Division's decision to uphold the High Court verdict reinstating the quotas.

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