A mob vandalized the home of Bangladesh founder and former PM Sheikh Hasina’s father in Dhaka on Wednesday. Protesters were irked by a speech Hasina gave on social media.
Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh, enraged at ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have torched her father and the country’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s home in Dhaka.
The incident took place on Wednesday night as Hasina gave a fiery speech urging supporters to resist the interim government.
Hasina delivered the address from neighboring India, where she is currently in exile.
Protesters had threatened to “bulldoze” the significant building — which came to symbolize Bangladesh’s independence — if Hasina went ahead with her speech.
As the deposed leader began the online address, protesters stormed the house and started vandalizing its brick walls.
Media reports said that some people in the mob were seen carrying sticks and hammers, while others brought a crane and excavator to demolish the house.
“They do not have the power to destroy the country’s independence with bulldozers. They may destroy a building, but they won’t be able to erase the history,” Hasina said during her speech as the demolition went on.
Symbolic building
The house was where Bangladesh’s independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the country’s formal break from Pakistan in 1971.
It was also where Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were assassinated in 1975.
Hasina, who survived the assassination, later turned the building into a museum.
The house was first set ablaze last year as protesters targeted symbols of the Hasina government.
Mob justice
The country’s caretaker government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has been struggling to prevent mob justice against Hasina’s supporters.
On Wednesday, protesters also attacked several houses and businesses belonging to Hasina’s Awami League supporters.
Hasina was ousted from her 15-year power hold in Bangladesh during a deadly student-led uprising in 2024.
The interim government has accused 77-year-old Hasina of widespread corruption and human rights abuses during her rule that began in 2009.
In her speech, the former prime minister alleged that the country’s new leaders took power by “unconstitutional” means.
