A protest assembly and press briefing were held by BSc engineering students at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Shaheed Minar at 12:15am on 31 January, protesting what they described as mob pressure and coercive interference in government decision-making related to the engineering rights issue.

The protest followed recent nationwide programmes by diploma engineering students, including transport-related actions, which the protesting engineers alleged were being used to influence state policy outside established institutional processes.

According to an official government gazette issued in August, 2025, a committee was formed to resolve the long-standing dispute between BSc engineers and diploma engineers, with an initial timeline of several weeks. The deadline was later officially extended to 31 January, 2026.

At the press briefing, the engineers demanded that the final government decision be taken strictly in line with the committee’s report and established institutional procedures, rather than through pressure exerted on the streets.