DHAKA, Bangladesh — Hundreds of student protesters and political activists in Bangladesh armed with bamboo sticks, iron rods and pipes attacked supporters of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, blocking their entry into the former residence of her father, assassinated independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in the capital.
The house in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi district has been converted into a museum displaying stories and other items related to the Aug. 15, 1975 military coup in which Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family. The house, now called the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, was set on fire by protesters hours after Hasina was ousted on Aug. 5. More than 300 people were killed in the riots.
Rahman is fondly called Bangabandhu, or Friend of Bengal.
Thursday was the anniversary of Rahman’s death, and Hasina, who is now in exile in India, urged her supporters to mark the day in his honour. August 15 was previously a public holiday and her government marked it as a day of national mourning. But after Hasina was ousted, the day was scrapped by a caretaker government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Hasina survived in 1975, when she was visiting Germany with her sister.
On Thursday, protesters attacked supporters of Hasina as they made their way to the site, witnesses said, manhandling many of them, checking the visitors’ mobile phones and identity cards and threatening journalists at the site who were filming the incident.
Another group of protesters on Thursday chanted “Narai-e-takbir, Allahu Akbar (Allah is great, great is the cry of Allahu Akbar)” as they marched through the streets of the area where the museum grounds remain sealed off with a barbed wire fence.
Protesters first arrived at Rahman’s home on Wednesday and attacked the well-known actress, who had arrived with dozens of Hasina’s supporters to light candles as part of the commemorations.
Throughout the night, they danced and partied outside the museum that was set on fire during anti-government protests earlier this month, with videos of the party going viral on social media.
The protesters said they were trying to stop a pro-Hasina rally that was seeking to create chaos in the name of commemorations.
Leading a rally in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area on Thursday, Sargis Alam, a key organiser of the student protests, said the students would continue to demand Hasina’s trial.
Asked about harassment of journalists by students and other activists outside the museum, he said he would look into it but did not provide details.
In the past, large gatherings have been held on the museum grounds and it is seen by many as a source of inspiration.
Earlier this week, in her first public statement since the fall, Prime Minister Hasina called on supporters to “pray for the salvation of all souls by laying wreaths and offering prayers” outside the museum.
There was no police in sight and chaos continued throughout Thursday in the Bangladeshi capital.
Reuters video journalist Sam Jahan criticised the harassment by protesters in a Facebook post.
“What you political activists and student protesters want to achieve politically is perfectly legitimate, but when you try to block my camera, resist freedom of the press or mistreat my colleagues I will speak up,” Jahan wrote in the post.
The country’s main English-language newspaper, the Daily Star, reported that journalists encountered problems at the scene and were forced to delete photos and footage.
Mujib Mashal, South Asia bureau chief of The New York Times, Posting a video to social media platform X “It’s total mob rule,” he said.
“Yesterday’s victims are today’s assailants. Men armed with clubs and pipes, many identifying themselves as BNP or Jamaat, are beating up and chasing away suspected Awami League members,” he said.
Protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Hasina be tried for killings during weeks of violence and cases have already been filed against her, other party aides and senior police officials.
Protests against a government quota system that began in July left more than 300 people dead and morphed into protests against Hasina’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The unrest ultimately forced her to resign and flee to India, ending her 15-year rule.
Yunus was appointed interim leader, and the interim government included 16 people, including two student movement leaders, mostly drawn from civil society.
He selected the new cabinet members after consultation with student leaders, civil society representatives and the military.
