Violence erupts in Bangladesh after wounded youth leader dies in Singapore hospital
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DHAKA – Violence broke out in Bangladesh’s capital early on Dec 19 after a youth leader of the country’s 2024 pro-democracy uprising who was injured in an assassination attempt
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka after the death of Mr Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was announced, to demand that his killers be arrested.
Several buildings in the capital, including those housing the country’s two leading newspapers, were set on fire, according to the authorities, with staff trapped inside.
Mr Hadi was a key figure in the 2024 uprising that ended the autocratic rule of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and sent her fleeing to India. He was running for a Parliament seat in the February 2026 national election.
On Dec 12, Mr Hadi was shot by masked assailants as he was leaving a mosque in Dhaka. He was airlifted to a hospital in Singapore for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on Dec 18.
At least three cases of arson were reported in Dhaka after the news of Mr Hadi’s death spread, a spokesperson for the Fire Brigade and Civil Defence force told AFP, including a fire at the Daily Star building and another at a building housing the Prothom Alo newspaper.
The two papers are the largest in the South Asian country, but protesters accused them of being aligned with neighbouring India, where Hasina has taken refuge.
Ms Zyma Islam, a reporter for the Daily Star said she was trapped inside the burning building.
“I can’t breathe any more. There’s too much smoke. I am inside. You are killing me,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
The fire at the Daily Star building was brought under control at 1.40am, firefighting officials said.
However, 27 employees were still inside.
“We took refuge at the rear of the building and could hear them chanting slogans,” Daily Star reporter Ahmed Deepto told AFP, referring to protesters.
The house of India’s Deputy Ambassador to Bangladesh was also surrounded by hundreds of people who were trying to demonstrate in a sit-in, but the police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, according to local news reports.
In addition, protesters blocked a key highway leading from the capital and attacked the residence of a former minister in Chittagong in the country’s south-east, according to footage shown on local television.
Protesters also attacked Chhayanaut, a centre in Dhaka devoted to Bengali culture.
People set fire to The Daily Star newspaper office building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Dec 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
‘An irreparable loss to the nation’
Earlier on Dec 19, the Singaporean authorities announced that Mr Hadi had died in a local hospital.
“Despite the best efforts of the doctors... Mr Hadi succumbed to his injuries,” Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement, adding that it was assisting the Bangladeshi authorities with repatriating his body.
Mr Hadi was evacuated by air from Bangladesh to the Singapore General Hospital Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit on Dec 15 to receive emergency medical treatment, Singapore’s MFA said.
In Dhaka, the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus confirmed Mr Hadi’s death.
“I express my deepest condolences. His demise is an irreparable loss for the nation,” Mr Yunus said.
“The country’s march towards democracy cannot be halted through fear, terror, or bloodshed,” he said in a televised speech.
The government also announced special prayers at mosques on Dec 19 and a half-day’s mourning on Dec 20.
Mr Hadi was a senior leader of student protest group Inqilab Mancha and has been an outspoken critic of India – Hasina’s old ally, where the ousted prime minister remains in self-imposed exile.
Manhunt for gunmen
The Bangladeshi police meanwhile have launched a manhunt for the attackers who shot Mr Hadi, releasing photographs of two key suspects and offering a reward of five million taka (S$53,000) for information leading to their arrest.
Mr Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading Bangladesh until the Feb 12 elections, has called the shooting a premeditated attack carried out by a powerful network aimed at derailing the election.
He said that “the objective of the conspirators is to derail the election”, adding that the attack was “symbolic – meant to demonstrate their strength and sabotage the entire electoral process”.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million people, will directly vote for 300 lawmakers for its Parliament, with another 50 selected on a women’s list.
A referendum on a landmark democratic reform package will be held on the same day.
Tensions are high as parties gear up for the polls, and the country remains volatile.
Hasina, convicted in absentia in November and sentenced to death, refused to return to attend her trial. She remains in hiding in India, despite Dhaka’s repeated requests for New Delhi to hand her over.
The last elections, held in January 2024, gave Hasina a fourth straight term and her Awami League 222 seats, but were decried by opposition parties as a sham.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is widely tipped to win the upcoming vote.
Ms Zia is in intensive care in Dhaka, and her son and political heir Tarique Rahman is set to return from exile in Britain after 17 years on Dec 25. AFP
