Offices of leading newspapers The Daily Star and Prothom Alo were vandalised and set on fire, leaving journalists trapped inside smoke-filled buildings before firefighters and security forces intervened.
BY PC Bureau
December 19, 2025: Bangladesh was gripped by widespread unrest overnight on Thursday following the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent youth leader and outspoken critic of ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The developments sparked violent protests across parts of Dhaka, with demonstrators attacking major media houses and public infrastructure.
Hadi, 32, died at a hospital in Singapore, where he had been receiving advanced treatment after being shot on December 12. He was attacked by masked assailants on a motorbike while travelling in a rickshaw and was later airlifted abroad for medical care. The shooting came just a day after authorities announced the date for Bangladesh’s first elections since the 2024 uprising—polls Hadi had intended to contest as an independent candidate.
#Bangladesh’s worsening law and order situation took a grave turn late Thursday night as angry mobs targeted leading media houses in Dhaka, vandalising the offices of Prothom Alo and setting fire to The Daily Star building in Karwan Bazar amid heightened unrest following the… pic.twitter.com/N7brsAysHc
— DD News (@DDNewslive) December 19, 2025
Protests turn violent; journalists trapped in burning offices
As news of Hadi’s death spread late Thursday and into early Friday, hundreds of supporters took to the streets of Dhaka demanding justice and the arrest of those responsible. At least three incidents of arson were reported in the capital, including fires at buildings housing two of Bangladesh’s leading newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, according to the Fire Brigade and Civil Defence.
Groups of protesters stormed the offices of both outlets, vandalising property before setting parts of the buildings ablaze. Journalists and staff were trapped inside as smoke engulfed the premises.
Zyma Islam, a reporter with The Daily Star, described the ordeal in a Facebook post while trapped inside the burning building. “I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke. I am inside. You are killing me,” she wrote.
Officials said the fire at The Daily Star office was brought under control around 1.40 am, though 27 employees were still inside at the time. “We took refuge at the rear of the building and could hear them chanting slogans,” reporter Ahmed Deepto told AFP.
A journalist told bdnews24 that staff had received a warning phone call about an approaching mob. When newsroom employees tried to move downstairs, they found the lower floors already vandalised and set on fire. Night-shift staff fled to the terrace to escape the smoke and flames.
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At least 25 journalists were rescued over four hours at the Kawran Bazar office, bdnews24 reported. Firefighters used ladders to evacuate those trapped, while army contingents were later deployed to secure the area. A police officer told BBC Bangla that “hundreds of people” had gathered to carry out the attack. Witnesses said protesters first vandalised the Prothom Alo office before torching The Daily Star building.
It remained unclear why the two newspapers—both seen as broadly supportive of interim leader Muhammad Yunus—were targeted.
In a televised address, Yunus announced special prayers at mosques on Friday and declared a day of mourning on Saturday. Calling Hadi’s death “an irreparable loss for the nation,” he urged protesters to remain calm.
Why the unrest matters for India
The violence soon extended beyond media houses. Hundreds of protesters surrounded the residence of India’s deputy high commissioner in Dhaka, prompting police to use tear gas to disperse the crowd, local media reported.
Demonstrators also blocked a key highway out of the capital, attacked the residence of a former minister in Chittagong, and vandalised Chhayanaut, a prominent cultural institution in Dhaka. Large crowds gathered at the Shahbagh intersection near Dhaka University, chanting slogans such as: “Who are you, who am I — Hadi, Hadi.”
According to AFP, student groups including Jatiya Chhatra Shakti and the National Citizen Party (NCP) joined the protests. NCP leaders alleged that Hadi’s attackers had fled to India and called for the closure of the Indian High Commission until they were returned.
“The interim government—until India returns the assassins of Hadi Bhai—the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh will remain closed. Now or never. We are in a war,” NCP leader Sarjis Alam said, according to AFP.
Amid the turmoil, India’s parliamentary standing committee on external affairs warned that New Delhi faces its most serious strategic challenge in Bangladesh since the 1971 Liberation War. The committee, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, said the evolving political and security situation—marked by rising Islamist influence, weakening political institutions, and growing involvement of China and Pakistan—poses a long-term challenge to regional stability.
“India faces its greatest strategic challenge in Bangladesh since the Liberation War of 1971,” the report said, adding that while the threat is not immediately existential, it points to a generational shift in Bangladesh’s political order and a potential strategic realignment away from India.
