Central Shaheed Minar

The Central Shaheed Minar is the national martyrs' monument of Bangladesh in Dhaka, next to Dhaka Medical College. It commemorates the students shot dead by Pakistani police on 21 February 1952 while demanding recognition of Bengali as a state language. The movement was the spark that, two decades later, led to Bangladeshi independence; UNESCO has marked 21 February as International Mother Language Day since 1999. The present 1950s structure shows a mother figure and four standing sons in plain white concrete. On the night of 20 to 21 February, hundreds of thousands walk barefoot with flowers to the monument.