Police Kill Protesters in Dhaka

Date: February 21, 1952 • Location: Azimpur, Bangladesh

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1952.

A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan.

The Bengali language movement was a political movement in East Bengal in 1952, advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as a co-lingua franca of the Dominion of Pakistan. The movement wanted to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali alphabet and Bengali script.