A wave of violence swept across Bangladesh on Thursday (6 February) as angry mobs targeted the homes of prominent Awami League (AL) leaders and defaced murals and busts of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in nearly two dozen districts.
It comes a day after the arson attack and demolishing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Dhanmondi-32 residence.
Demonstrators stormed the Companiganj home of Obaidul Quader, AL's general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister.
The assault, which unfolded around 1pm in Bora Rajapur Mohalla, saw Quader's two-storey residence and adjacent tin-roofed structures belonging to his younger brother, Abdul Quader Mirza, Companiganj AL president, and Shahadat Mirza, former Basurhat municipality mayor, ransacked and set ablaze.
A car parked nearby was also torched. Fortunately, no occupants were present during the attack.
In Rajshahi's Bagha upazila, over 100 motorbike-borne protesters from Bagha and Charghat converged on the residence of Shahriar Alam, former state minister for foreign affairs.
The three-storey house in Chaksinga Mohalla was set on fire around noon, with firefighters managing to extinguish the blaze by 2pm.
Pabna witnessed similar chaos as protesters broke into the home of AL leader Abu Sayeed in Shalgaria village, looting valuables before setting the property aflame.
In Kishoreganj, the residence of former president Abdul Hamid was stormed around 10pm, with assailants looting valuables and torching a motorbike.
Earlier, the district AL office was razed using an excavator.
Cumilla saw protesters employing heavy machinery to demolish two murals of Sheikh Mujib—one at the Judge Court premises and another in the City Park.
Rashedul Haque, secretary of the Cumilla city unit of Students Against Discrimination, declared, "We will demolish all signs of fascism."
In Narayanganj, pro-BNP lawyers orchestrated the demolition of murals and a bust of Sheikh Mujib at key judicial and administrative sites, using hammers and crowbars.
The deputy commissioner claimed ignorance of the incident. Later, the ancestral home of former AL MP Shamim Osman in Chashara was vandalised.
Similar acts of vandalism and arson were reported in Narsingdi, Tangail, Bagerhat, Barishal, Jamalpur, and Bogura.
Tangail alone saw an AL office destroyed and the homes of former lawmaker Khan Ahmed Shuvo and ex-mayor Jamilur Rahman Miron torched.
In Jamalpur, actress and filmmaker Meher Afroz Shaon's ancestral home was set ablaze. S
Shaon, the daughter of former AL MP Begum Tahura Ali and Mohammad Ali, had political ties to the AL through past electoral bids. Meanwhile, homes belonging to AL leaders Mirza Azam and Murad Hasan were also targeted.
Murals of Sheikh Mujib were systematically defaced in Thakurgaon, Kurigram, Manikganj, Habiganj, Patuakhali, Brahmanbaria, Panchagarh, and Khulna.
Notably, in Khulna's Digholia upazila, protesters vandalised properties linked to Sheikh Hasina's family.
Reports from Wednesday night detailed similar incidents in at least ten districts, including Khulna, Kushtia, Chattogram, Sylhet, Rangpur, Barishal, Mymensingh, Chuadanga, Kishoreganj, and Pabna.
The widespread assaults on both personal residences and national monuments underscore the volatile political landscape, reflecting deep-seated discontent and escalating tensions across the country.
