Arsonists target Bangladesh newspapers after student leader s death
Arsonists target Bangladesh newspapers after student leader’s death
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alt="People stand next to burnt newspapers in front of the Daily Star building, following the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Dec 19, 2025."/>After Mr Sharif Osman Hadi died in hospital on Dec 18, his supporters gathered in Dhaka demanding the killers be brought to justice.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BangladeshDHAKA - Firefighters pulled journalists from their burning newsroom on Dec 19 after the building was set ablaze during violent demonstrations in Bangladesh’s capital.
Thousands of protesters were brought to the streets by the assassination of a youth leader
A key figure in the 2024 uprising, Mr Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was shot by masked gunmen while leaving a mosque in Dhaka last week.
After he died in hospital on Dec 18, his supporters gathered in Dhaka demanding the killers be brought to justice.
Several buildings, including those housing leading newspapers Prothom Alo and the Daily Star, were set on fire and vandalised, according to authorities.
A firefighter works inside the building of the vandalised Prothom Alo newspapers office, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Dec 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Staff trapped in the Daily Star newsroom described being unable to escape as the building filled with smoke.
“I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke. I am inside. You are killing me,” reporter Zyma Islam wrote on her Facebook page.
Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control at 1.40am (3.40am, Singapore time),with 27 employees rescued from the smouldering building.
“For the first time in the newspaper’s history, the publication had to be halted,” consulting editor Kamal Ahmed told AFP.
At the Prothom Alo, executive editor Sajjad Sharif said he was
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