2 hours ago
1
The sounds of a mob were already audible when Zyma Islam hit send on her article for Friday’s edition of Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper. She quickly headed out, hoping to avoid the crowd that had already burned down the offices of Prothom Alo, another of Bangladesh’s most prestigious newspapers. But when she reached the door, they were already there.
The rioters were angered by the assassination of Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent leader from the pro-democracy movement that unseated the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Hadi’s killers were Hasina loyalists who had escaped to India, according to the authorities. The crowd that had rapidly gathered on the night of 18 December was ready to lash out at anyone they saw as linked to the previous government.
Prothom Alo and the Daily Star were targeted, despite having faced vandalism, abuse and legal action under Hasina’s rule.
It was a night that saw both newspaper offices and a cultural institution burned down, causing consternation among journalists and civil society about the trajectory of Bangladesh just 15 months after the end of Hasina’s 15 years of autocratic rule had kindled hope for a new type of politics.
So far 184 people have been killed this year in incidents of mob violence, according to figures up to November compiled by the human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra. Last Thursday, a Hindu garment worker was dragged out and lynched after rumours had spreadaccusing him of blasphemy. By comparison, there were 51 such deaths in 2023.
As the violence erupted on 18 December, Islam, a 35-year-old reporter, and 28 of her colleagues rushed to the roof hoping to wait out the violence. “We all knew that this mob was not going to stop at trashing this office, that it was going to set fire to it,” she says.
At one point, choking on smoke so thick she could not see the phone in her hands, Islam posted to Facebook what she thought would her final message: “I can’t breathe any more. There’s too much smoke. I’m inside. You are killing me.”
The violence was an example of how the interim government has struggled in a chaotic environment and has raised concerns about how it will handle tensions that are likely to be heightened in the run-up to an election expected in February.
The Daily Star attack came after plenty of warnings; Prothom Alo had already been burned down, and calls had been made by journalists at both newspapers to members of the government. When firefighters tried to bring some of the workers down by ladder, they were set on, and it was not until about 4am that the military arrived to escort them out.
Shafiqul Alam, press secretary for Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, posted on Facebook that he had attempted to seek help by making scores of calls “to the right people” without success. “I wish I could dig up a great piece of earth and bury myself in shame,” he later wrote.
A journalist from Prothom Alo, who did not want to be named, said that watching from the 13th floor of their building as the crowd gathered belowmade them realise how just far the country had strayed from the hope of August 2024.
Hasina’s rule saw the political opposition crushed and the media silenced, but when she was removed last year, the young people who had led the protests spoke of a “Bangladesh 2.0”, which would break away from the violence and retribution perpetuated by the old political parties.
“I took part in [the movement] because we were in a dungeon for 15 years under [Hasina’s] Awami League rule. But for the first time in the last 16 months, I thought, ‘have we just plunged to our nadir?’” the journalist says.
As a journalist, he has generally felt freer than under the previous government to report, he says, including on criticism of the government and political parties, but the mob violence has shaken him.
“Awami League’s time was bad – Prothom Alo was threatened and attacked,” he says. “But [it’s shocking] being attacked in this way and getting no help whatsoever from the government – they surrendered to the mob.”
That fear has spread beyond those targeted by the mob’s rage to other journalists and civil society activists.
Zia Chowdhury, a reporter at an English-language daily, the Business Standard, says all journalists and civil society activists are now feeling vulnerable.
“[It’s left] a sense of fear of being hounded by angry groups when I’m on the ground, when I’m asking any critical questions. There was much hope since the interim government took charge but the hope has diminished slowly,” says Chowdhury.
Islam says she would not have wanted the security forces to fire on the crowds but more should have been done to protect the journalists.
She is also concerned that Bangladesh has been held hostage by a cycle of retribution since the 2024 protests that saw 1,400 people killed by Hasina’s forces and which were followed by attacks on the police and anyone deemed loyal to her Awami League party.
Islam believes, however, that there is a chance to escape that cycle of violence by taking last week’s attacks as a warning and encouraging the government to act.
One way to do that, she says, is to ensure that those arrested as police investigate the violence are genuine culprits and not just those who tend to be detained in the sweeping raids that are common in Bangladesh, simply to signal that action is being taken, she says.
“I have my fingers crossed that that’s the one thing that doesn’t happen because I don’t want to perpetuate a culture of revenge.
“We still have a little hope. It’s still not time to worry and go into full-blown panic yet.”
