Although police have so far arrested 28 people in connection with the violence, vandalism, looting and arson at the buildings of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star, many of those who led the attacks remain at large.
After reviewing five video clips of the attacks, TIMES of Bangladesh identified 18 individuals who were at the forefront of the assaults on the offices of the two newspapers. Most of them were young, though several appeared to be middle-aged.
Following the death of Inqilab Moncho convener Sharif Osman Hadi on Thursday, a group of violent mobs carried out massive vandalism and arson at the offices of the media outlets throughout Thursday night.
Both outlets have filed separate cases describing the incidents that took place that night, naming nearly 900 accused. Many of them first carried out attacks at Prothom Alo before moving on to The Daily Star. Analysing video footage, police have identified 31 individuals involved in the attacks on the two media houses.
Several thousand people gathered at Shahbag on Thursday evening after the news of Hadi’s death spread. From there, a group attacked Prothom Alo building, vandalised it, entered the premises, looted equipment and then set it on fire.
Shortly afterwards, a similar incident occurred at The Daily Star Centre. There are numerous eyewitnesses to both attacks. Although the activities and statements of several frontline attackers are clearly visible in videos circulating on social media, they have yet to be arrested.
Attackers at Prothom Alo
Prothom Alo filed a case at Tejgaon Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Special Powers Act and the Cyber Security Ordinance, accusing 400–500 unidentified individuals. According to the case statement, at around 11:15pm on Thursday, 20–30 unidentified miscreants marched with locally made weapons, sticks and flammable materials and attempted to attack Prothom Alo office in Karwan Bazar.
When police resisted, they unlawfully gathered in front of the office, shouted provocative slogans, mobilised people through phone calls and social media posts, and continued inciting violence. The case estimates property damage worth Tk 32 crore.
Several videos show a middle-aged man wearing a turban, with long hair and a beard, standing under the Karwan Bazar metro station and speaking to Ekattor TV and other media outlets, issuing threats. He wore a white panjabi with a waistcoat and claimed, “Prothom Alo and Daily Star are India’s lapdogs. Look at Bangladesh, look at the world—Hadis are not sleeping. We will not break other TV media because they are ours, but Prothom Alo belongs to Delhi.”
Another man wearing a sleeveless vest, with long black hair and green trousers, was seen directly setting fire after vandalising. A man in a black jacket and black trousers, with short hair, was seen throwing bricks and stones at Prothom Alo building while another, wearing a khaki jacket over a sky-blue vest, carried a large bamboo pole and shouted slogans such as “Inqilab zindabad, Prothom Alo nipat jak.”
One man wearing a vest said at the scene, “Hearing this being called a mob made my blood boil,” and asked journalists present, “How is this a mob? What is a mob?”
A bearded man wearing a cap and glasses, dressed in a white panjabi and grey shawl, shouted in Karwan Bazar, “They are agents of India. No Indian agent will be allowed to stay.”
A young man in an unbuttoned white shirt vandalised the second floor of Prothom Alo building, cheering and chanting slogans toward the crowd below. A man wearing a green jacket and jeans brought various items out of the burning building and danced with both hands raised. Another man in a blue jacket and black trousers was seen looting on the second floor.
In front of the building, a man wearing pyjamas, a panjabi and a white T-shirt bearing the slogan “Ek Hadi lokantore, lokkho Hadi ghore ghore” was seen dancing jubilantly toward the metro rail.
Those active at The Daily Star
According to the case statement filed Monday night by The Daily Star’s operations chief Mizanur Rahman, 350–400 unidentified individuals have been accused of the attack, vandalism, arson and looting.
It says at around 12:35am on Friday, attackers armed with sticks and flammable materials entered the building chanting provocative slogans. They physically assaulted employees, looted cash and equipment, set fires on multiple floors, and destroyed critical infrastructure including firefighting systems and CCTV cameras.
More than 200 electronic devices worth about Tk 5 crore and Tk 35 lakh in cash were looted. Preliminary estimates put the total damage at around Tk 40 crore.
Of the frontline attackers, a young man with short hair wearing a full-sleeve white check shirt was seen vandalising the ground floor while chanting, “Delhi or Dhaka—Dhaka, Dhaka.”
Wearing a black helmet, another man with a Palestinian flag wrapped around his neck, dressed in black trousers and a grey blazer, vandalised the second floor with a bamboo stick. A masked man wearing a cap, black trousers and a half-sleeve grey T-shirt was seen cheering while vandalising.
A man with short hair wearing a black jacket and black trousers smashed the second-floor glass wall with bamboo poles. A youth in a grey hoodie and black trousers vandalised the ground floor and dragged another person to assist him.
A man wearing a deep green T-shirt and cap vandalised furniture with a chair on the second floor while another in a yellow panjabi, white pyjamas and cap repeatedly smashed the ground-floor glass doors with a large bamboo pole.
Video footage shows a man wearing a blue polo shirt, with long curly hair, harassing New Age editor Nurul Kabir in front of The Daily Star office, pulling his hair and clothes.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) SN Nazrul Islam told TIMES that many suspects have been arrested and the rest will also be brought to justice.
