July 8, 2024: Blockade intensifies as students form committee

For the second consecutive day, the Bangla Blockade grips the capital, with thousands of students and jobseekers bringing traffic to a standstill at key intersections across Dhaka. Defying police obstruction, protesters block major city roads, rail lines, and highways as their call for the reinstatement of the 2018 circular abolishing the quota system grows louder.

In Dhaka alone, blockades unfold at 11 key points, including Shahbagh, Science Lab, Nilkhet, Karwan Bazar, Farmgate, Technical, Zero Point, Chankharpul, Banglamotor, Sonargaon, and Paltan. Hundreds of students from Dhaka University, Jagannath University, Dhaka College, Eden College, and Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University gather in processions, blocking intersections for hours. Students also block the Karwan Bazar rail crossing for nearly an hour.

"We have no choice but to take to the streets. We will not back down until our demands are met," says Rashed Al Hasan, a student of Dhaka College, echoing the sentiment of protesters who have been demonstrating since July 1.

Protests flare outside Dhaka as well, with students from Chittagong University, Rajshahi University, Mymensingh Agricultural University, Cumilla University, and others enforcing blockades and staging sit-ins. In some places, like Rajshahi, students block railway lines for nearly five hours.

In response to the growing scale of the movement, student organisers form a 65-member coordination committee to strengthen communications and planning across campuses nationwide. "From now on, we will coordinate our movement through this committee," says Nahid Islam, a student of Dhaka University and one of the lead organisers. "We will work together to build a larger blockade on July 10."

Meanwhile, at the Awami League's Dhanmondi political office, three ministers and two state ministers, including Obaidul Quader, Anisul Huq, and Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury, hold a closed-door meeting to discuss the crisis. They call for restraint, urging the students to avoid actions that cause public suffering while the case remains pending before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.

Law Minister Anisul Huq reiterates that since the matter is under judicial consideration, protesters should present their arguments through legal channels rather than on the streets.

But on the ground, anger and determination run deep. The students see the courts as too slow and the government as indifferent. For them, the blockade is not just about a circular, it is about fairness and the right to a future free from discrimination.

As the sun sets on July 8, 2024, the blockade holds firm, setting the stage for what organisers promise will be even larger showdowns in the coming days.