On Thursday night, the Dhaka headquarters of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Party, an ally of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was vandalized and set on fire during protests. Witnesses reported that the building was partially damaged before firefighters contained the blaze. The Jatiya Party, founded by the late President Hussain Muhammad Ershad, had previously joined Hasina’s Awami League-led Grand Alliance, participating in the last three general elections despite boycotts by the BNP.
The unrest began when the Jatiya Party announced a rally scheduled for Saturday, sparking backlash from groups opposing Hasina’s leadership. A torch procession led by protesters from the Chhatra Sramik Janata banner approached the Jatiya Party’s central office in the Kakrail area, the heart of Dhaka, leading to a confrontation. Protesters reportedly damaged signs and defaced images of Ershad, while police and military units were deployed to control the scene.
Shakiluzzaman, a leader of the Gono Audhikar Parishad, claimed that Jatiya Party members instigated the violence by throwing bricks from the building’s roof. He further alleged that the Jatiya Party staged the fire as a show of allegiance to the "fascist Awami League," with whom they were allied in previous elections. “We, the students, workers, and citizens, have declared that we will not allow the Jatiya Party to hold any rallies,” Shakiluzzaman added.The protests follow the ousting of Sheikh Hasina two months ago, after a student-led movement led to her departure and the formation of an interim government under Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.