Angry mobs launched attacks on the buildings of Bengli daily Prothom Alo at Karwan Bazar and English daily The Daily Star at Farmgate in the capital.
They also vandalized multiple floors of both the offices.
The incident took place around Thursday midnight, multiple employees of both the newspapers confirmed the matters over the phone calls, adding that some staff members were still trapped inside the offices.
The groups of people were yet to be identified. However, the groups were seen going to offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star offices from Shahbagh, where multiple organisations had gathered to protest after the news of the death of Inqilab Mancha Spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi spread late on Thursday night.
Several miscreants reached the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star offices around 11pm and later surrounded the buildings.
Dozens of youths then climbed the building and vandalised the floors.
Soon after, the demonstrators piled up documents, papers, and furniture from the Prothom Alo and The Daily Star offices in front of the building and set them on fire.
"A few of us are trapped inside. A Prothom Alo building in Karwan Bazar is under attack and being vandalised. They are now setting it on fire," Prothom Alo journalist Abul Hasnat said.
After attacking the Prothom Alo building, an angry mob moved on to vandalise the office of Daily Star.
The crowd reached the Daily Star office at Karwan Bazar around 12:15am. Protesters smashed glass panels, dragged out chairs, tables, and papers, and set them on fire while chanting slogans including "Naray-e-Takbir" and "Allahu Akbar."
The army arrived at the Daily Star office around 12:35am to control the situation.
Shaheen Mollah, a senior reporter of The Daily Star said that the miscreants set their office of fire and his colleagues had been trapped inside the building.
Some of the staffers took shelter on the roof of the office building, he added.
Meanwhile, the mob also intercepted the firefighters so that they could not rush to the spot to douse the fire.
During the incidents, many of the people were seen chanting slogans against India and protesting against the death of Osman Hadi, the spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha, who succumbed to his bullet wounds.
As off filing the report at 1 44am Friday, a large number of Army personnel were trying to bring the situation under control.
UNB adds:
An unruly mob incited by ex-journalist Elias Hossain on Thursday attacked the office building of The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s leading English-language daily, and later set it on fire, creating panic in the area in the aftermath of the death of Sharigf Osman Hadi, a frontliner in the July Uprising who was shot on December 12.
According to the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters, duty officer Md Shahjahan said they received information about the fire at around 12:40am, following which a fire service unit was dispatched to the scene to extinguish the blaze.
Until the filing of this report, efforts were underway to bring the fire under control.
Earlier, soon after the attack was launched by the mob, members of law enforcement agencies—particularly personnel of the Bangladesh Army—reached the spot and took position to restore order.
After the arrival of the fire service vehicle, firefighters began operations to douse the flames. Meanwhile, the disorderly crowd also set fire on the adjacent road, further worsening the situation. Army personnel later assisted the fire service in extinguishing the fires.
No immediate information was available regarding the extent of damage.
Soon after the news broke that Osman Hadi, spokesman of Inqilab Moncho, had passed away, Elias Hossain, who commands a huge following on social media,
posted on Facebook instructing his followers to set fire to the offices of the Daily Star and Prothom Alo. Prothom Alo was set on fire first. Elias then posted asking his followers to do the same at Daily Star, and the crowd moved there in line with his instructions.
