Timeline of the 2013 Shahbag protests

Timeline of protest

• February 5 - Abdul Quader Molla is sentenced to life imprisonment. Initial gathering of protesters in Shahbagh Square (also known as Shahbagh Circle).^[1]
• February 6–7 - Protests intensify, crowds grow bigger, other cities and towns pick up protest. Bangladeshi diaspora and student communities abroad also begin to express solidarity with the protest.
• February 8 Friday - Hundreds of thousands attend afternoon rallies in Shahbag and nationwide. Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal and others address the crowds.
• February 9–10 - Protest continues countrywide.
• February 12 - 3-minute silence is observed in Shahbag and all across the country.^[2][3] Shibir attempts to disrupt with a mid-day rally which quickly turns violent as they use guns and bombs against police.^[4][5]
• February 15 - A protester and blogger named Ahmed Rajib Haider is brutally slaughtered. Haider had actively participated in the protest from the beginning and had written several blogs. against Jamaat-e-Islami activities.^[6]
• February 16 - Thousands of people from all professions gather at Shahbag wearing black badges to show their respect on the death of Ahmed Rajib Haider. By touching the coffin, protesters swear not to return home leaving their demands unfulfilled.^[7][8]
• February 17 - Various schools in Dhaka hoist the national flag and sing the national anthem to express solidarity with Shahbag protesters. The Shahbag activists announce a grand rally to be held on February 21 and reiterate their demand of death penalty for war criminals.^[9][10][11]
• February 18 - The Shahbag protest continues for the 14th day. Some pro-Islamic groups under the banner of Khelafat Andolon and Islami Oikya Jote demand the death penalty for top bloggers (Omi Rahman Pial, Ibrahim Khalil, Arif Jebtik and Asif Mohiuddin) of the ongoing Shahbag movement.^[12][13]
• February 19 - British foreign office minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi praises the Shahbagh Square protest, describing it as peaceful and productive. Shahbag protesters vow to spread their movement to the grassroots level by making ‘Ganojagorn Mancha’ (mass-upsurge stage) like Shahbagh square at every corner of the country.^[14][15]
• February 20 - Jamaat-e-Islami resorts to a "smear campaign" against Shahbag activists, branding them as atheist, anti-Islamic and anti-social elements by appealing to the religious sentiments of the people and at the same time trying to brand Haider as an atheist to justify his murder.^[16] With its back against the wall, Jamaat-e-Islami under the banner of several radical Islamist groups plans demonstrations from around 400,000 mosques including Baitul Mukarram.^[17]
• February 21 - After the movement ran for two weeks, with huge participation from masses of people, in the grand rally at Shahbagh held on February 21, 2013 in the afternoon, Dr. Imran H Sarker presents six demands ^[18] before the people. An intelligence agency releases a message to the news media and law enforcement agencies which states that some anti-state elements will try to carry out destructive activities including suicide bomb attacks on places like Shahbag, Shaheed Minar and Baitul Mukarram. Law enforcement agencies arrest several Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and Shibir activists carrying explosives and planning to attack Shaheed Minar.^[19]
• February 22 - Shahbag Ganajagaran Mancha calls for nationwide protest just 1 day after calling off their demonstration at Shahbag. This happens after Jamaat activists went on a rampage in Dhaka city, clashing with police and attacking them with bombs and stones.^[20][21] Jamaat activists destroy the Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar setting on fire the national flag of Bangladesh and flowers.^[22] Thousands of students and people angered by this vandalism attacked and set fire to some institutions owned by and linked to Jamaat-e-Islami in Sylhet city.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28]}
• March 6 - The Shahbag protest has completed one month. What started from the bloggers and online activists, has turned into a mass uprising, spread across the country to people from all walks of life, and among the expatriate Bangladeshis.^[29]

References