Bangladesh's 2024 student protests, which began by demanding civil-service quota reform, became a movement to unseat the government, and on 3 August organisers at a Central Shaheed Minar rally announced a one-point demand for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.
Coordinator Nahid Islam said the government had no right to remain in power for another minute and that Hasina should face prosecution for killings, looting and corruption rather than being handed an 'exit route' through resignation.
Organisers scheduled a 'March to Dhaka' for 6 August, then moved it forward to 5 August, and called for an indefinite non-cooperation campaign from 4 August.
On 2 August, mass processions in Dhaka and elsewhere clashed with police and Awami League activists; the coordinators said they had been pressured at the Detective Branch office into recording a video withdrawing earlier programmes, and Facebook and Telegram were shut down for several hours.
Hasina invited protesters to talks, saying the door of Ganabhaban was open, but the coordinators refused; Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiya wrote that 'there is no dialogue with bullets and terror', and Nahid Islam said the time for apologies had passed.
On 4 August, the first day of the non-cooperation campaign, clashes in Dhaka and elsewhere killed more than 100 people, mobile operators shut down 4G networks on government orders, and the government imposed a curfew.
On 5 August, thousands of people moved toward Dhaka despite the curfew; Hasina left the country around midday, and Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that she had resigned and that an interim government would be formed.
Authorities counted more than 800 deaths in the July-August violence, while the UN human rights office's investigation put the toll at about 1,400.