Anbarasan Ethirajan
South Asia Editor
Protesters set fire to Sheikh Hasina’s house on Wednesday evening
Protesters in Bangladesh have vandalised and set fire to the former family home of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as those of other members of her party.
The unrest was sparked by news that Hasina would address the country via social media from India, where she has been in exile since student-led protests ousted her last year.
The 77-year-old Hasina, who was in charge of Bangladesh for 20 years, was seen as an autocrat whose government ruthlessly clamped down on dissent.
On Wednesday evening, an excavator smashed down the house of Hasina’s late father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is also Bangladesh’s founding president. The structure had been repurposed into a museum.
Hasina’s father is widely viewed as an independence hero, but anger at his daughter has tarnished his legacy among Hasina’s critics.
In a Facebook livestream, Hasina condemned the attack and demanded “justice”.
“They can demolish a building, but they can’t erase history,” she said.
Hasina, once hailed as a pro-democracy icon, has seen her reputation sour after taking office. She has been accused of rigging elections and jailing her critics, and her administration was widely seen as corrupt.
She faces arrest warrants for cracking down on the student-led protests last year, which saw hundreds of people killed.
While Hasina fled to India last August, anger has not dissipated against her and her Awami League partymates.
Getty Images
The late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding president, was widely viewed as a hero, but has become a target for critics of his daughter Sheikh Hasina
On Wednesday, protesters also vandalised and torched the houses and businesses of senior Awami League leaders. There have been calls on social media to rid the country of “pilgrimage sites of fascism”.
Police told the BBC’s Bengali service that around 700 protesters showed up at the residence on Wednesday night, and dozens of police officers were deployed.
Since Hasina’s ouster, a caretaker government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has kept the country running.
But it has struggled to quell lingering unrest. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent months, demanding Hasina to be prosecuted for her deadly crackdown on student protesters.
While Yunus’ government tries to get Hasina extradited from India, it is also dealing with a looming economic crisis – Yunus has accused Hasina of faking Bangladesh’s economic growth and laundering billions of dollars during her rule.
Yunus has pledged to hold elections in late 2025 or early 2026.
