According to the report, Bangladesh’s Anti-Discrimination Student Movement rejected a government decision to observe state mourning on July 30, 2024. The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on July 29, amid the quota reform movement and reported killings nationwide. The movement called the mourning declaration a “cruel mockery” and announced a July 30 programme asking people to wear red cloth over their faces and eyes, photograph themselves and circulate the images online.

The report said Facebook turned visibly red from midnight on July 29 as students, teachers, intellectuals and some celebrities changed profile images in solidarity. During a writ hearing that day, a High Court bench questioned the state side and said, “Do not make a mockery of the nation.” Transparency International Bangladesh was reported to have condemned the detention of coordinators in DB custody as “unethical” and “illegal.”

The report also described obstruction and attacks against student protesters in Dhaka and elsewhere, saying at least 50 students were detained in Dhaka. Teachers described the violence of the preceding month as the “July killings” and demanded an end to disappearances, arrests and harassment. It said a National People’s Investigation Commission was formed by prominent citizens to seek independent investigations into reported deaths.