The Shapla Square protests or the Motijheel massacre_, (also called Operation Shapla or Operation Flash Out by security forces) refers to the protests and shootings of 5 and 6 May 2013, at Shapla Square, of the Motijheel district, the main financial area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The protests were organized by the Islamist pressure group, Hefazat-e Islam, demanding a blasphemy law. The government cracked down on the protesters by using a combined force drawn from police, the Rapid Action Battalion and the paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh to drive the protesters away from Shapla Square.

Following the events at Motijheel, there were protests in other parts of the country that morning, which resulted in 27 deaths. Different sources provide different figure about the casualties in this operation. Depending upon sources, reported deaths ranged from 20 to 61. The opposition party BNP initially claimed thousands of Hefazat activists were killed during the operation, which was disputed by the government.Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations put the total death toll at above 50. However, rights groups have termed the events as a massacre. Any initial attempts to dispute the term of events were dismissed by the government by closing two television channels - Diganta Television and Islamic TV, which were live telecasting the operation.

The Hefajat-e Islam emerged as a pressure group of madrassah teachers and students in early in 2013.Shah Ahmad Shafi, rector of Hathazari Madrasah became its leader. In 2013, Hefajat-e-Islam was reactivated after the allegation that some of the protesters in the Shahbag protests, were involved in publishing of content offensive to Muslims on blogs, including the depiction of Muhammad as a pornographic character. On April 6, 2013, its supporters made a long-march to promote their 13-point charters, which included:

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