Bangladesh names new national days to honor student uprising, regime change
Interim government declares Aug 5 as ‘July Mass Uprising Day’ to honor student-led revolt that ended 15-year Awami League rule
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Bangladesh’s interim government has designated three new national commemorative days to mark the mass uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government after 15 years in power.
The most prominent of these is August 5, now officially recognized as “July Mass Uprising Day”, commemorating the student-led revolt that culminated in the collapse of Hasina’s administration last year.
The day will be observed as a public holiday and reflects the sweeping impact of the 36-day nationwide protests that began over civil service hiring policies but quickly escalated into a broader demand for political change.
Also recognized are August 8, the day the transitional government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took office, now named “New Bangladesh Day” (Notun Bangladesh Dibosh), and July 16, declared “Martyr Abu Sayed Day”, in memory of a student protester killed by police during the unrest.
The new designations, issued in official government notices, call on all state institutions to commemorate these days annually. August 5 has been listed under the highest category of national observance, while the other two are recognized as significant memorial dates.
The anti-government movement began in mid-2024 at Dhaka University, driven by demands to reform a controversial quota system in public sector hiring. But public anger over years of alleged corruption, repression, and authoritarian rule under the Awami League quickly transformed the protests into a mass resistance movement.
The Hasina government attempted to suppress the uprising with aggressive tactics — deploying security forces, blocking internet access, and targeting demonstrators with tear gas, beatings, and live ammunition. The killing of Abu Sayed, a university student in Rangpur, marked a turning point that galvanized nationwide outrage.
Within weeks, the government fell. Hasina and key members of her cabinet fled to neighboring India amid accusations of human rights abuses and state-sanctioned violence.
While the interim administration has officially listed 834 deaths in a public gazette, a United Nations inquiry estimates that more than 1,400 people may have been killed between July 1 and August 15 — a period now regarded as one of the bloodiest in Bangladesh’s post-independence history.
The declaration of these commemorative days reflects not only an effort to honor the dead and document the uprising but also to signal a break from the past. The new government has framed this moment as the beginning of a more transparent, democratic, and inclusive political era.
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