The 36th of July

1. 1

   36 days. A protest against civil-service quotas became the uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee; the UN estimates up to 1,400 killed.

2. 2

   Dozens of names in the coordination. When the internet went down and leaders were detained, others took over and sent demands to journalists by SMS and phone.

3. 3

   Public leaders with substitutes, a simple calendar and a plan for working offline. In the 2026 election, the students' party won 3.05%.

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If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

The movement had public faces and a large network of coordinators behind them. Below, those who did or documented the work and told how it went: the playbook's main sources.

• Nahid Islam

  Coordinator of Students Against Discrimination; later interim minister and NCP leader

  A sociology student at the University of Dhaka, he was abducted and tortured on 19 July, announced the single demand for Hasina's resignation on 3 August and was elected to parliament in 2026.

  Sources

• Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain

  Coordinator; later interim minister

  Called the 18 July “Complete Shutdown” on Facebook and, in August, announced that the march on Dhaka was brought forward to the 5th; in 2025 he testified in court about his detention.

  Sources

• Abdul Kader

  Coordinator who took over when the leaders were detained

  In hiding and without internet, he dictated the nine-point demand to journalists by phone and SMS, point by point, and later proposed the single demand.

  Sources

• Rifat Rashid and Mahin Sarker

  Coordinators who stayed free

  Publicly rejected the stand-down video the six detained coordinators were forced to record and called new actions, such as the red-cloth campaign.

  Sources

• Nusrat Tabassum

  Coordinator at the University of Dhaka

  On the night of 14 July she brought students out of the women's halls to protest; she was the only woman among the six coordinators detained by police.

  Sources

• Debashish Chakrabarty

  US-based Bangladeshi artist

  Drew more than a hundred posters in July 2024 and asked people to copy them; anonymous artists reproduced them on walls across the country.

  Sources

• Digitally Right and OONI

  Digital rights researchers

  Rebuilt day by day, with technical measurements, every internet cut and block between 14 July and 5 August.

  Sources

• OHCHR fact-finding mission (UN)

  Human rights investigation

  With more than 230 confidential interviews, it estimated up to 1,400 deaths and found grounds to believe the crackdown was directed by the political leadership.

  Sources

• Mahfuz Alam

  Student described as a key figure of the uprising; later special assistant to Muhammad Yunus

  Yunus introduced him at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2024 as the “key architect” of the protests; he has always insisted he was not alone and that many others were involved.

  Sources

What coordinators, artists and researchers said about their own work. Paraphrases, with short quotes where essential. These are personal accounts; not all have been independently verified.

• After the 5 June verdict he started talking with students at the Central Library; the movement spread across campuses through online meetings and Facebook campaigns that built a nationwide network.

  Nahid Islam, The Business Standard / BSS, Determination of resistance brings victory (30 Jun 2025)

• With the 4 August curfew they expected another internet cut and feared they could no longer give instructions; that is why they brought the final call forward to the 5th.

  Nahid Islam, Prothom Alo, interview (5 Aug 2026)

• With no internet, he sent the demands by SMS one at a time, because they did not fit in a single message, from a new SIM; journalists wrote them down as he dictated.

  Abdul Kader, Dhaka Tribune, Coordinator Abdul Kader recounts how 9-point charter of demands emerged (27 Sep 2024)

• Every night he left at 9 pm, walked about two kilometres, switched on his basic phone to talk to the press, switched it off and went back; some nights he slept in a mosque.

  Abdul Kader, The Business Standard, Abdul Kader: The mastermind behind the nine-point demand (17 Aug 2024)

It began with a court ruling on quotas and a sentence from those in power. In six weeks, the shooting of students turned a technical demand into a single one: that Hasina go.

36 days

from the movement's launch (1 Jul) to Hasina's resignation (5 Aug 2024)official

up to 1,400

killed, according to the UN; 12 to 13% were childrenestimate

5 days

of total nationwide internet blackout, from 18 to 23 Julystudy

11,700+

people arrested or detained, according to the UNstudy

From campus to the 36th of July, and after

1. 5 JunThe High Court overturns the 2018 abolition of quotas. Protests begin at universities the same day.
2. 1–7 JulThe Students Against Discrimination platform is born, with four demands; on 7 July the “Bangla Blockade” shuts roads and railways. On the 8th, the coordination has 23 coordinators and 42 co-coordinators.
3. 14–16 JulHasina asks publicly whether the quotas should go to the “grandchildren of razakars” (1971 collaborators); students take it as an insult and leave the halls at night in protest. On 16 July, Abu Sayed is killed by police in Rangpur, unarmed; six die that day.
4. 17–18 JulStudents expel the Chhatra League from the halls; the university is closed. Asif Mahmud calls the “Complete Shutdown” on Facebook. On 18 July, the country loses the internet; Mir Mugdho is killed while handing out water.
5. 19–21 JulCurfew. Nahid Islam is abducted and tortured. Abdul Kader dictates the nine demands to journalists. On 21 July, the Supreme Court orders 93% of posts to be filled on merit.
6. 26 Jul–1 AugPolice take six coordinators, some from hospital, and force them to record the end of the movement. Those still free reject the video; the detainees go on hunger strike and are released on 1 August.
7. 3–5 AugAt the Shaheed Minar, Nahid announces the single demand and non-cooperation. On 4 August, at least 97 killed and the internet cut again; the march on Dhaka is brought forward to the 5th. Hasina resigns and flees to India.
8. 8 Aug 2024Muhammad Yunus is sworn in at the head of an interim government; Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud join as ministers (“advisers”).
9. Feb 2025On 12 February, the UN publishes its investigation. On the 28th, students and allies launch the National Citizen Party (NCP), with Nahid as convener.
10. Nov 2025–Feb 2026On 17 November, Hasina is sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. On 12 February 2026, the BNP wins the election with 209 seats; the NCP, allied with Jamaat, gets 6, and the July Charter is approved by referendum.

Three layers

There was no single centre, but there were names and roles in three layers; when one fell, the others kept going.

• Public, replaceable coordinationA growing list of coordinators (65 on 8 July, 158 on 3 August) announced dated programmes. When the first were detained, the next took over, under the rule “whoever is on the field leads”.
• Campuses and neighbourhoodsPublic universities, then private ones, schools and madrasas, teachers and residents; each campus and neighbourhood organised its own meeting point, its night meeting, its protection.
• Off the networkSMS, calls, pen drives for the foreign press, painted walls, songs, the diaspora and an archive of evidence uploaded whenever connectivity came back.

A government in power for 15 years, elections with low turnout, campuses controlled by the ruling party and a state able to switch off the internet for the whole country. Knowing this helps you choose what to swap in your own country.

Platforms

Facebook

The main public square: coordinators announced every programme in posts and pages, and it was in a post that Asif Mahmud called the 18 July “Complete Shutdown”, shortly before the cut.

Online meetings (Zoom, Discord)

Frontline coordinators met by video at midnight to decide; private-university students held late-night Discord calls with neighbouring campuses.

Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram

Group and list coordination until they were blocked: the official order from 24 to 31 July covered Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Viber and others.

SMS, calls and basic phones

During the blackout, the nine-point demand went out by SMS and by dictation to journalists over the phone; meetings were set by call with code words.

VPNs and local servers (BDIX)

VPNs restored some access when broadband returned, until they too were blocked; students used domestic exchange servers, still reachable over Wi-Fi, as makeshift newsrooms.

Mesh apps (Bridgefy, Briar)

Messaging over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without internet, with a range of about 100 metres; they circulated as an option, with no data on actual use.

Walls, posters and music

Digital posters copied in spray paint onto Dhaka's walls and rap and rock songs with millions of views (such as “Awaaz Utha” by Hannan, who was jailed over it, and “Kotha Ko” by Shezan) carried the message where the network could not.

Diaspora

Protests in at least eight countries, amplification in the international press and help preserving evidence with metadata; in the UAE, workers who protested were convicted.

Local conditions

• Sheikh Hasina had governed for 15 years; the 2024 election had around 42% turnout, against almost 60% in 2026, according to the election commission.
• Civil-service quotas had already been scrapped after student protests in 2018; the High Court ruling of 5 June 2024 that restored them reopened the wound.
• On public campuses, the residential halls were controlled by the Chhatra League, the ruling party's student wing; expelling it on 17 July was a turning point.
• The state could cut the internet in layers: first around universities, then mobile data, then the whole country, through orders to the regulator and operators.
• A record of enforced disappearances and anti-terrorism laws used against opponents; the UN counted more than 11,700 people detained in 2024.
• The army weighed on the outcome: on 5 August its chief barred the forces from firing on the crowd, and Nahid Islam himself says the fall depended on that stance.
• Around 15 million citizens live abroad, according to the election commission; in the August non-cooperation call, the movement asked emigrants to stop sending remittances through banks.

The “spontaneous” had a simple structure: public names with substitutes, a calendar of programmes and the decision not to stop when the network went down. The demands rose as the repression grew.

Three fronts

Visible but replaceable leadership

Coordinators with names and faces gave legitimacy and a clear voice; a long, growing list made sure that detaining three or six stopped nothing. The succession rule was written in advance.

One programme a day

Every announcement had a name, a date and a place: blockade, “Complete Shutdown”, red cloths, march.

Working without the internet

Anticipate the cut, move dates ahead of it, keep backup channels off the network and store evidence to publish when connectivity returns.

The cycle of an escalation

The same cycle repeated from June to August, each round with a bigger demand.

1. React to the event A court ruling, a sentence from those in power, a death: the movement responds within hours, with a shared reading of what happened.
2. Decide in a small group A night meeting of frontline coordinators, online or in person, to set the next programme and the demand.
3. Announce with a date A known face announces name, day, time and place, through the movement's official channel and the press.
4. Occupy Campus, road, symbolic square; each place with its own local coordination.
5. Document Film, keep metadata, identify victims with consent, hand material to lawyers and the press.
6. Replace whoever falls When a coordinator is detained, the next on the list takes over and says publicly that statements made under coercion do not count.
7. Escalate the demand From quotas to nine demands for accountability and, after weeks of killings, to the single demand.
8. Anticipate the next cut Send instructions before the blackout and agree where and when everyone meets even with no network.

And again.

What you need to keep a peaceful protest movement running under repression and internet cuts. Use it for a legitimate cause and within the rules on this page: the Bangladesh case also shows how much it can cost.

What works anywhere and what has to be swapped. Choose your country at the top of the toolkit to see the equivalent tools.

Choose your country

Pick the moves that fit your context and add them to your kit. Each one works on its own or combined with moves from other playbooks.

1. Public faces with a succession list

   Named, visible coordinators make the announcements and talk to the press, and each one has substitutes who take over within hours if they are arrested, with a rule agreed in advance: statements made in detention don’t count. In Bangladesh, the coordination grew from 65 to 158 names; when the leaders were arrested, Abdul Kader dictated the nine demands to journalists and the coordinators still free rejected the demobilisation video the detainees were made to record.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when the movement needs a clear, legitimate voice and the government can arrest, abduct or coerce whoever leads.

   Don't use when

   It fails if succession is improvised on the spot: without names and rules written down in advance, every arrest opens a fight or a silence.

   1. Week −6 Choose the frontline coordinators and two substitutes for each
   2. Week −6 Write the succession rule: whoever is in the field leads
   3. Week −6 Agree, and say publicly, that statements made in detention don’t count
   4. Week −5 Keep reserve coordinators out of the spotlight, holding the press contacts
   5. Week −4 Post on the official channel who speaks for the movement today
   6. Week −2 When someone is taken, the substitute steps in within hours and says so publicly
   7. Week −1 Grow the list of coordinators as the movement grows

   Team

   • Frontline coordinators: announce programmes and talk to the press
   • Reserve coordinators: stay away from the most dangerous streets and step in if others fall
   • Care and legal support: look after detainees and families, including jailed coordinators

   What to measure: Hours between a coordinator’s arrest and the substitute’s first public announcement, and coordinators who actually have two substitutes who know they are.

   Risks to watch: Being a public face can cost dearly (Nahid Islam was abducted and tortured): only people who accept the risk, with a legal hotline ready, and never lists of names in open groups.

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2. One programme a day: name, date, place

   A late-night meeting decides the next programme and a known face announces it before midnight (short name, day, time, place and conduct rules), so millions can act without any meeting at all. In Bangladesh it went from the “Bangla Blockade” to the “Complete Shutdown”, from the red cloths to the march on Dhaka, as the demands grew from quotas to nine demands to a single one.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when many people want to act in different places and need one clear action at a time, short enough for an SMS.

   Don't use when

   It fails with several actions in one announcement, or with demands that grow because the announcers want them to rather than because the facts changed.

   1. Week −5 Write short, numbered demands that fit in an SMS
   2. Week −5 Choose a symbolic place, reachable on foot, for the decisive announcements
   3. Week −5 Hold a short nightly meeting of the frontline coordinators to decide the programme
   4. Week −5 Announce before midnight: name, day, time, place and conduct rules
   5. Week −4 Keep the public list of programmes and meeting points on the official channel
   6. Week −3 Every morning, count on how many campuses and neighbourhoods the programme happened
   7. Week −1 Escalate the demand only when the facts change, in an announcement of its own

   Team

   • Frontline coordinators: decide and announce the next day’s programme
   • Campus or neighbourhood coordination: organises the local meeting point and protection
   • Official channel: posts the programme, keeps the list of points and debunks rumours

   What to measure: Campuses and neighbourhoods where yesterday’s programme actually took place, reported by local coordinators the next morning. Likes on the announcement don't count.

   Risks to watch: A call for revenge hands the government a pretext for more force: every announcement repeats the rules of peaceful, unarmed protest and asks for justice, not reprisal.

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3. A plan to keep going without internet

   Before the shutdown, the movement installs VPNs, hands out basic phones and SIM cards, keeps press contacts on paper and fixes meeting points and times that hold without any new message. In Bangladesh the country went five days without internet; Abdul Kader sent the demands by SMS, one by one, and on 4 August the march was brought forward to the 5th, ahead of the next cut.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works where the government has cut, or can cut, the internet, mobile data or whole platforms.

   Don't use when

   It fails if prepared after the cut: once the internet is down, you can’t install anything or warn anyone.

   1. Week −3 Install and test two or more VPNs on every coordinator’s phone
   2. Week −3 Give a basic phone and a separate SIM to whoever talks to the press
   3. Week −3 Print the list of trusted journalists and of coordinators
   4. Week −3 Test an offline messaging app in a rehearsal on campus
   5. Week −2 Agree a fixed meeting point and time that hold even without any new message
   6. Week −1 When a cut is foreseeable, send the full instructions before it
   7. D-day week Without a network, dictate statements by phone or SMS in numbered parts

   Team

   • Connectivity: prepares VPNs, offline apps and the SMS plan, and trains people before the cut
   • Press liaison: keeps journalists’ numbers on paper and can dictate a statement
   • Local coordination: makes sure everyone knows the fixed place and time

   What to measure: Local coordination teams that ran a shutdown rehearsal (VPN tested, basic phone with SIM, list on paper) before the first blackout, and programmes that still happened during a cut.

   Risks to watch: A seized phone can put someone in prison, and VPNs get blocked too: no lists of names in open groups, disappearing messages on Signal, and more than one way to get online.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

4. An evidence archive with metadata

   Whoever films sends the original file to a channel that keeps date and place; the archive records consent, keeps two copies (one abroad) and hands them to lawyers, the press and investigators. In Bangladesh, when connectivity returned, activists asked everyone to upload evidence with metadata; seeing the videos dispelled fear and brought more people to the march, and the UN mission went on to conduct more than 230 interviews.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works from day one of any protest that risks repression, blackouts or false official accounts.

   Don't use when

   It fails if material circulates edited in open groups: it loses its value as evidence and can expose the people in it.

   1. Week −4 Open a submission channel that keeps metadata, with a copy outside the country
   2. Week −4 Show everyone how to film and keep the original file
   3. Week −4 Run OONI Probe to record every cut and block
   4. Week −3 Log each item: date, place, what it shows, consent and where it is stored
   5. Week −2 Name victims only with their family’s consent
   6. Week −1 When connectivity returns, hand the evidence to lawyers and the press
   7. 2 week(s) after Afterwards, hand the archive to independent investigators

   Team

   • Evidence archive: receives videos and testimony and keeps copies in two places
   • Care and legal support: uses the evidence to defend detainees and families
   • Diaspora: keeps the copy abroad and publishes if the network stays shut

   What to measure: Pieces of evidence with metadata preserved and consent recorded that were actually handed to lawyers, the press or independent investigators.

   Risks to watch: Images can expose the injured and protesters: blur faces when there is risk, show only with permission, and never keep the archive on a single phone.

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5. Rules for the day after victory

   Before winning, the movement decides how it will condemn reprisals, protect minorities and organise the next phase, with decision rules and public accounts. In Bangladesh, the coordination demanded justice for attacks on minorities on 13 August, but without its own structure the energy scattered: local committees were suspended after an extortion case and the NCP won 3.05% of the vote in 2026.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   It works when victory may come suddenly (a resignation, a collapse) and leaves a vacuum of power and anger.

   Don't use when

   It fails if the structure is left for later in the hope that parties and commissions will build it: the window closes fast.

   1. Week −2 Write down beforehand who decides, how, and with what accountability after victory
   2. D-day week On the day of victory, publicly condemn any reprisal
   3. D-day week Organise protection of places of worship and minorities with local coordinators
   4. 1 week(s) after Follow up on the injured, the detained and their families
   5. 2 week(s) after Publish decision-making and accountability rules for the new phase
   6. 4 week(s) after Build your own base outside the capital before running in elections

   Team

   • Frontline coordinators: condemn reprisals and say what the next phase is
   • Campus or neighbourhood coordination: organises protection shifts at places at risk
   • Accounts committee: publishes decisions, finances and misconduct cases

   What to measure: Places of worship and minority neighbourhoods covered by protection shifts run by local coordinators in the days after, and reprisal cases taken to the courts with evidence.

   Risks to watch: Publishing lists of the old government’s supporters is incitement, and without public accounts suspicion destroys your reputation: justice belongs to courts, and every internal case is handled in the open.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

In Bangladesh, it took five weeks from launch to fall. This plan uses the same time to build the structure before it is tested. Your progress is saved in this browser.

The movement was millions of unarmed people against a state that opened fire. Deceiving, inciting or taking revenge proves the repressors right.

Peaceful, unarmed protest

The right to peaceful, unarmed assembly is protected by international law and by most constitutions. No violence against people or property, and no improvised weapons as a plan.

No revenge

The UN documented mob attacks on police, members of the ousted party and religious and ethnic minorities after 5 August. Those who lead condemn this publicly and protect the targets.

Only the truth

No rumours, doctored images or deepfakes, even against a government that lies. Every fact with a date, a place and proof.

Only real people

No fake accounts, bots or mass reporting to take down other people's accounts.

Consent in images

The injured, the dead, minors and detainees appear only with the consent of the person or the family. Cover faces when there is risk.

Digital security without exposing anyone

No lists of names, addresses or photos of faces in open groups. What can be seized from a phone can put someone in prison.

The laws where people live abroad

Bangladeshi workers who protested in the UAE were convicted, three to life imprisonment, before a pardon. Before calling on the diaspora, check the law of each country.

Right to a lawyer

Anyone detained has the right to a lawyer and not to be tortured. Share the legal hotline before each programme and denounce detentions publicly.

The human cost

Up to 1,400 killed according to the UN, 12 to 13% of them children, thousands injured, more than 400 students who reportedly lost their sight and more than 11,700 detained. No organising structure stops a state willing to shoot.

The army decided the end

The army's stance was decisive, according to Nahid Islam himself; on 5 August its chief barred the forces from firing on the crowd.

Toppling is not governing

The students entered an interim government without a party or a base. The NCP got 3.05% of the vote and 6 seats in February 2026; the BNP, a traditional party, took 209.

Reprisals and violence after victory

Attacks on police, Awami League members and minorities, destruction of property by members of the platform itself and, in December 2025, the assassination of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi.

Hidden agendas

Coordinators say that Shibir, an Islamist student organisation, helped draft and distribute demands. An open coordination needs clear rules on who takes part and with what agenda.

Power draws suspicion fast

In 2025, local members were arrested for attempted extortion and the platform suspended its regional committees. In September 2026, the anti-corruption commission opened an investigation into Asif Mahmud over suspected money laundering and tender irregularities; he denies the allegations and calls them politically motivated, and no court has ruled.

Imperfect justice

Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025 for crimes against humanity; she is in India, denies the charges and calls the tribunal biased. The UN regretted the death penalty and questioned whether the trial met fair-trial standards.

The blackout works too

Researchers show that the cut stalled coordination and hid the violence for days. It partly backfired, but that is not something you can count on.

Five questions to confirm the essentials. Each answer comes with an explanation.

This playbook was built from the accounts of student coordinators, artists and researchers, the UN investigation and Bangladeshi and international press published between July 2024 and August 2026.

Updated 26 October 2026