30 July 2024: Government’s mourning day met with mass defiance on social media
The government declared 30 July a day of national mourning in remembrance of those killed in the violence stemming from the quota reform movement. In an official directive, all places of worship — including mosques, temples and churches — were requested to hold special prayers for the deceased. Citizens across the country were urged to wear black badges as a symbol of mourning.
In response, a counter-narrative began to emerge online. Coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination movement issue a press release, rejecting the government's framing of the day's observance. Instead of black badges, they call on the public to cover their faces with pieces of red cloth and upload these photos to social media, turning the day into one of resistance rather than state-sanctioned grief.
Their call resonated widely. Facebook became saturated with the colour red as a large number of users changed their profile pictures to a solid red. This became an act of digital defiance and mourning. Poetic captions and hashtags that expressed both grief and rage accompanied the change of profile pictures.
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The government's attempt to observe state mourning while standing over the dead bodies of hundreds of people is a terrible farce, which the students have rejected
At the same time, supporters of the ruling party and those aligned with state-approved messaging changed their profile pictures to black.
More groups of citizens started to join the protests as teachers of several universities held rallies, parents stood in solidarity protesting the killing of children and eminent citizens, demanding accountability from the government for the loss of lives.
At a press conference held at the Dhaka Reporters Unity, several prominent citizens, including Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh; Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA); and Asif Nazrul, professor of law at University of Dhaka, issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the unconditional release of the six coordinators of the anti-discrimination students movement who were in Detective Branch (DB) custody.
