Violent protests in Bangladesh after pro-democracy figure dies in hospital
By The Guardian, December 19, 2025Violence broke out in Bangladesh’s capital 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 early on Friday, December 19, 2025, 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 the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and sent her fleeing to India. He was running for a parliamentary seat in the February 2026 national election.
On December 12, 2025, 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.
The UN human rights chief voiced alarm on Friday at the killing, urging calm and calling for a swift, impartial investigation.
“I urge the authorities to conduct a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation into the attack that led to Hadi’s death, and to ensure due process and accountability for those responsible,” Volker Türk said in a statement.
At least three cases of arson were reported in Dhaka after the news of his death spread early on Friday, a spokesperson for the fire brigade and civil defence force said, including a fire at the Daily Star building and another at a building housing the Prothom Alo newspaper. Violence was reported in several cities across Bangladesh, including Chattogram.
The two papers are the largest in the country, but protesters accused them of being aligned with neighbouring 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 media house building was brought under control, firefighting officials said. However, 27 employees were still inside.
“We took refuge at the rear of the building and could hear them chanting slogans,” said Ahmed Deepto, a Star reporter, referring to protesters.
The house of India’s deputy ambassador to Bangladesh was also surrounded by hundreds of people who were trying to stage a sit-in, but police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the crowd, according to local news reports.
In addition, protesters blocked a key highway leading from the capital and attacked the residence of a former minister in Chattogram in the country’s south-east, according to footage shown on local television.