Protesters raze Mujib’s residence in fresh wave of Bangladesh vandalism

Thousands of protesters set fire to the home of Bangladesh’s founding leader as his daughter, ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, called on her supporters to stand against the interim government.

Witnesses said several thousand protesters, some armed with sticks, hammers and other tools, gathered around the historic house and independence monument while others brought a crane and excavator to demolish the building late on Wednesday.

The demolition continued into Thursday, with much of the front of the house destroyed. Many people were seen breaking into it and taking steel and wooden items and books from inside.

The protest rally was organised alongside a broader call, dubbed “Bulldozer Procession”, to disrupt Hasina’s scheduled online address on Wednesday. Protesters, many aligned with the “Students Against Discrimination” group, voiced fury over Hasina’s speech they saw as a challenge to the newly formed interim government.

Dhaka lodges protest with Delhi over Hasina’s activities in exile

Bangladesh on Thursday lodged a protest with India’s acting envoy saying that “false and fabricated comments” by deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina are a “hostile act” against Dhaka, a day after she delivered a virtual address to her supporters from exile in India.

The foreign ministry here asked India “to immediately take appropriate measures, in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding, to stop her from making such false, fabricated and incendiary statements using social media and other communications while she is in India”, an official statement said.