Buildings burn as youth leader dies

DHAKA (AFP) — Violence broke out in Bangladesh’s capital early Friday after a youth leader of the country’s 2024 pro-democracy uprising who was injured in an assassination attempt died in a hospital in Singapore.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was announced, to demand that his killers be arrested.

Several buildings in the capital, including those housing the country’s two leading newspapers, were set on fire, according to authorities, with staff trapped inside.

Hadi was a key figure in last year’s uprising that ended the autocratic rule of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and sent her fleeing to India. He was running for a parliament seat in the February 2026 national election.

On 12 December, Hadi was shot by masked assailants as he was leaving a mosque in Dhaka. He was airlifted to a hospital in Singapore for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.

At least three cases of arson were reported in Dhaka after the news of his death spread early Friday, a spokesperson for the Fire Brigade and Civil Defense force told Agence France-Presse, including a fire at the Daily Star building and another at a building housing the Prothom Alo newspaper.

The two papers are the largest in the South Asian country, but protesters accused them of being aligned with neighboring India, where Hasina has taken refuge.

Zyma Islam, a reporter for the Daily Star, said she was trapped inside the burning building.

“I can’t breathe anymore. There’s too much smoke. I am inside. You are killing me,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

The fire at the Daily Star building was brought under control at 1:40 a.m., firefighting officials said.

However, 27 employees were still inside.