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Bangladesh witnessed widespread violent protests on Thursday evening (December 18, 2025) that continued into early hours of Friday (December 19, 2025), following the death of 32-year-old Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha and a potential Dhaka-8 candidate. Sharif Osman Hadi had been shot in broad daylight final on December 12, 2025 whereas campaigning for the upcoming elections and succumbed to his accidents on Thursday evening (December 18, 2025) at a hospital in Singapore.
Additionally learn | Bangladesh unrest LIVE updates
From the capital’s Shahbagh intersection to school campuses and main cities throughout the nation, college students, political activists, and members of the general public staged marches, blockades, and demonstrations, demanding justice for Hadi. Leaders and activists of Nationwide Citizen Celebration (NCP), Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir (the coed wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami), and Dhaka College Central College students’ Union (DUCSU) members took positions at Shahbagh and surrounding areas.
Protesters raised slogans akin to ‘Dilli na Dhaka, Dhaka Dhaka,’ ‘League dhoro, jelay bhoro,’ (Arrest Awami League and ship them to jail) and ‘Amra shobai Hadi hobo, guli’r mukhe kotha kobo’ (‘We’ll all develop into Hadi, we’ll communicate even within the face of bullets’), together with chants towards what they described as Indian aggression. Nationwide Citizen Celebration (NCP) leaders Asif Mahmud, Mahfuj Alam, convener Nahid Islam, and Nasiruddin Patwari have been current through the protests.
Following the protests, tons of of demonstrators reached the workplace of Prothom Alo, one of many largest dailies in Bangladesh, at Karwan Bazar at round 11.30 p.m. on Thursday (December 18, 2025), and later surrounding the constructing. Dozens climbed the four-storey construction, vandalised the flooring, and dragged out paperwork, furnishings, and papers, which have been piled up outdoors and set on hearth. By Friday morning (December 19, 2025), the constructing had been fully destroyed.
At round 12.15 a.m., protesters reached the workplace of The Day by day Star close to Farmgate, following the assault on the Prothom Alo constructing. Accusing each newspapers of being brokers of India, the group smashed glass panels, dragged out chairs, tables, and papers, and set them on hearth. A piece of the group additionally looted objects, together with CPUs, displays, and furnishings.
Greater than a dozen journalists and workers have been initially trapped on the rooftop, with a number of others reportedly stranded on totally different flooring. Firefighters introduced the blaze below management at 2 a.m., and a fireplace service crane was deployed to rescue these trapped. By 2.30 a.m., all workers had been evacuated safely.
Owing to those assaults, operations at Prothom Alo and The Day by day Star have been suspended, and each newspapers is not going to be printed on Friday (December 19, 2025). Their on-line operations have additionally been largely disrupted.
The Bangladeshi Journalists in Worldwide Media (BJIM) condemned the assaults and referred to as on the interim authorities of Muhammad Yunus to guard journalists and guarantee media freedom. Nurul Kabir, editor of the each day New Age, was harassed and shoved by protesters within the early hours of Friday (December 19, 2025) as he tried to achieve The Day by day Star workplace.
“These setting fires will not be a part of the July motion; they’re deliberate conspirators. They entered the scene to tarnish Hadi’s wrestle. For Hadi, we search unity, not division,” mentioned Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiya, the not too long ago resigned Native Authorities Adviser.
Protesters additionally vandalised and set hearth to the premises of the Bengali cultural organisation Chhayanaut in Dhanmondi, halting all courses and actions till additional discover. The residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi-32 was additionally attacked round 12.40 a.m. on Friday (December 19, 2025). Elsewhere, the NCP activists and native residents blocked main highways, together with the Dhaka-Aricha and Dhaka-Chattogram routes, inflicting extreme visitors congestion. In Chattogram, protesters besieged and attacked the residence of India’s Deputy Excessive Commissioner, hurling bricks, as regulation enforcement used tear gasoline to disperse the group. Members of the Bangladesh Military have been deployed to keep up order.
In Bandarban, protesters set hearth to the residence of former Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing, which was gutted as much as the third ground earlier than firefighters may management the blaze by 1.30 a.m. Three automobiles parked on the bottom ground have been additionally destroyed. Equally, the residence of former Schooling Minister and Awami League chief Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel in Chattogram was vandalised and set on hearth. The Awami League metropolis workplace in Rajshahi was razed, whereas protest marches have been additionally held in Sylhet and Barishal. Demonstrators in Netrokona set roads ablaze, demanding justice, and related protests erupted in Jamalpur and Hadi’s residence district of Jhalakathi, disrupting visitors.
Chief Adviser Yunus, sharing information of Hadi’s demise on Thursday evening (December 18, 2025), urged calm, unity, and steadfast progress towards democracy and justice. “This will probably be our true tribute to martyr Hadi,” he mentioned in a televised tackle.
The federal government determined that particular prayers will probably be supplied after Jummah prayers in all mosques throughout the nation on Friday (December 19, 2025).
Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP) secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the assaults on media organisations and journalists. Mr. Alamgir mentioned those that anticipate moments of nationwide disaster to use them are enemies of the nation. “They anticipate crises, and at the moment they turned this second of mourning into damaging acts. I strongly condemn this terrorism. The government. should take full duties for these incidents”
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Shafiqur Rahman additionally urged persistence, saying: “Endurance is the best weapon of the oppressed, and there’s no different to restraint. This nation belongs to all of us. I hope everybody will act with the utmost persistence and accountability.”
The evolving state of affairs has raised critical uncertainty over the approaching nationwide elections scheduled for February 12, 2026. Political analysts warn of a possible disruption.
Mubashar Hasan, a political analyst and Adjunct Researcher on the Humanitarian and Growth Analysis Initiative, Western Sydney College, mentioned: “There have been three teams concerned: first, these genuinely grieving and offended over Hadi’s loss of life; second, those that are additionally offended however are deliberately exploiting the state of affairs for political achieve, typically linked to the federal government; and third, far-right nationalists. The second group, specifically, desires to delay the elections.
“All these forces are united in questioning the credibility of the polls. If the state of affairs continues, it’s extremely unlikely that elections will probably be held on February 12,” he added.
The physique of Hadi is scheduled to be introduced again to Bangladesh on Friday (December 19, 2025). Hadi was shot within the head on December 12, 2025 in Purana Paltan, at some point after the nationwide election schedule was introduced. He was first handled at Dhaka Medical School Hospital, underwent emergency mind surgical procedure, then transferred to Evercare Hospital, and eventually airlifted to Singapore. An tried homicide case was filed, and 14 folks have been arrested in reference to the assault to this point.
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