Nationwide prayer, student march announced for today

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement has announced a nationwide prayer and student procession programme for today (2 August) in protest against the "massacre and mass arrests" and to press for their 9-point demand.

Prayers will be held in mosques after Friday prayers, and similar observances will take place at temples and churches, according to a notice sent to the media by the Movement's coordinator Abdul Hannan on Thursday. 

Mass processions of students will be held after Friday prayers, said the notice.  

The notice also urged all Bangladeshi citizens—workers, professionals, cultural workers, media workers, human rights activists, intellectuals, and scholars—to support their programme. 

Abdul Hannan told The Business Standard that the six coordinators who were taken into custody by the Detective Branch of police had been released.

"They [the six coordinators] are staying at their homes after leaving the DB office, but we do not know who is in which condition," he said. "There is an effort to spread misinformation about them and through them. The programme we announced will continue."

The six coordinators of the quota reform movement were released yesterday at around 1:30pm. The coordinators are: Nahid Islam, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, Abu Baker Majumdar, Asif Mahmud and Nusrat Tabassum. 

After his release, Sarjis took to Facebook and posted, "Six people can be detained in DB custody for six days. But can you detain the entire youth of Bangladesh?"'

He also declared that the student movement would continue as long as "mass arrests, oppression, and torture continued."

He made the post at 5:30pm but an hour later the account disappeared, he told the media. "Efforts are underway to restore it."

Sarjis in his post also said, "You [government] said you wouldn't arrest or harass the students. Yet, my university teachers were attacked, and were beaten nationwide. Many were jailed without cause. If they couldn't find the agitator, they targeted family members."

Addressing the police, Sarjis said, "The people's anger isn't directed at you, but at the uniform you wear. A uniform used for years to repress and torture. Leave that uniform and join us, and I will welcome you with open arms."