A night of frenzy follows Sheikh Hasina’s Facebook live talk

Sudha Sadan set on fire on late Wednesday night by frenzied mob. Photo collected

The air was thick with tension as the sun dipped low in the Dhaka sky, casting an ominous purplish hue across Dhaka City. The Bangladesh Awami League, thrown out of power by the August 5 mass upsurge, had invited netizens to a Facebook live talk by their leader and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Student protesters vowed to demolish the Dhanmandi 32 house of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in case she made any inflammatory statement.

For weeks, student groups had been fuming with anger at what they perceived as a betrayal of their dreams by former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, now eclipsed by accusations of authoritarianism. As the president of the Awami League, she had ruled for over a decade. But now, from her refuge in India, her Facebook Live address set off a frenzied chain of events that would change the nation’s landscape forever.

“Militants have seized power! Dr. Muhammad Yunus is their puppet master, and they seek to dismantle everything we have built together!” her voice crackled, heavy with accusation and desperation. “But I am alive for a reason. God has kept me here to set things right!” In her nearly an hour of live statement she painted a rosy picture of her 15 year rule, and blamed the Interim Government for human rights violations like arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings plus extortion and money laundering – the same charges that she faces in Bangladesh’s courts.  

Before the feed ended, the fire it ignited spread like wildfire among the ranks of student protesters who fomented the July 2024 movement that led to her ouster from power. With chants echoing through the streets, they gathered in throngs, desperation spurring them onward, united by a shared sense of outrage that transcended the boundaries of age and experience.

Within hours, earsplitting screams filled the air as the protest transformed into a frenzied mob. Screaming banners bearing messages of revolution and betrayal, they marched toward Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s home. Windows shattered and wooden beams splintered under their onslaught as a bulldozer tore through the structure. Voices mingled with the sound of destruction. 

But the wrath did not stop there. News of the demolition spread to Khulna, Kushtia, and Sylhet, where outraged locals joined the students, their fury morphing into a wildfire. Houses of Awami League leaders were encircled, attacked and damaged. 

In the distance, the burning silhouette of Sheikh Hasina’s Sudha Sadan—watched over Dhaka - a looming reminder of her fall from grace. Everything felt like a fever dream—a countdown to a new dawn, as yet uncertain. The world was watching through the lens of social media, the powers of information spreading faster than the violence itself. News outlets captured the chaos, broadcasting the unraveling of an era across the globe.

Yet in the eyes of the students—now not just protesters, but revolutionaries—they believed that redemption remained just beyond their reach. They were not just fighting against Sheikh Hasina; they were rebelling against a legacy that shattered their aspirations.

Beneath the chaos, a shared hope for a brighter future flickered through their hearts. But as the flames subsided and dawn approached, they understood that in tearing down the old, they had a monumental task ahead to build anew. They had struck down the past—but what kind of future would rise in its wake? 

- GreenWatch News Desk