Violence erupts in Bangladesh after death of radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi

Dhaka: Violence erupted in Bangladesh following the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of the radical group Inqilab Mancha, with several media outlets reportedly targeted in arson attacks.

Hadi succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at a Singapore hospital, after battling for his life for six days.

Addressing the nation on Thursday night, the interim government’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus confirmed Hadi’s death, Bangladeshi media outlet BSS reported.

Meanwhile, the Inqilab Moncho official Facebook page also announced the news on Thursday night,

Hadi was flown to Singapore on Monday for advanced medical treatment after remaining in critical condition at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka.

Hours after the news of his death broke, Bangladesh’s newspaper The Daily Star building in Karwan Bazar in Dhaka was set ablaze by an angry mob early Friday morning. Six firefighting units were deployed to bring the blaze under control.

During the incident, several staff members, including journalists, were trapped inside the building. Bangladesh Army personnel were subsequently deployed to secure the area while the mob remained positioned across the street.

In a parallel incident, a group of people marched from Shahbagh towards Kawran Bazar in the capital, where they surrounded the Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo building and staged a protest. Police deployed at the scene tried to calm the protesters, but failed to bring the situation under control.

The attack reportedly began late Thursday night with protesters carrying sticks and rods, vandalising the office and damaging most of its window panes. Around midnight, a group of protesters entered the office and set fire to furniture and important documents in the street, Bangladeshi daily, Dhaka Tribune reported.

According to a Prothom Alo journalist, several reporters and staff remain trapped inside the office, as tension escalates in the area.

Meanwhile, Jatiya Chhatra Shakti, the student wing of the National Citizen Party (NCP), held a protest in Dhaka, burning an effigy of the interim government’s Home Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, demanding his resignation over the failure to arrest Hadi’s attackers and the “deterioration of public security.” The group also announced plans to hold a symbolic funeral for Hadi.

“We are not making any demands to Jahangir for arrests because he is unfit for this position. You cannot make demands to an irresponsible home advisor,” Dhaka Tribune quoted Jatiya Chhatra Shakti President Zahid Ahsan as saying.

Hadi, a potential independent candidate for the Dhaka-8 constituency in the upcoming February elections, was shot in the head in full public view in Bijoynagar on December 12.

The miscreants arrived on a motorcycle and fired shots at Hadi, who was riding a rickshaw in the Box Culvert area of Bijoynagar in Dhaka.

Bangladesh has witnessed an alarming rise in violence and a degrading law and order situation under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

IANS