Bangladeshi newspapers attacked by mob
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 18th December 2025, the offices of two of Bangladesh's biggest newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, were surrounded by mobs, attacked and set on fire. At The Daily Star, journalists were forced to take shelter on the roof of the building as smoke billowed through the lift shaft. They were rescued hours later by the military and many required hospital treatment. The BBC's Soutik Biswas went to Dhaka to talk to journalists caught up in the violence and to investigate the social media posts that may have driven it.
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Presented by Irena Taranyuk
Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.
(Photo:Irena Taranyuk.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.1 | You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.3 | You're not the fifth floor with Irina Taran Yoke, has to me, be man. |
| 0:21.7 | At the sun the area, Arana Taranup's with program, |
| 0:24.4 | Fifth Floor, |
| 0:25.0 | we're with us with us. |
| 0:29.5 | Mearentranar, the fifth floor, |
| 0:31.7 | Irina Taran Yuktu. |
| 0:33.6 | Mato, are you. |
| 0:36.9 | This is the fifth floor. At the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world. |
| 0:44.2 | I'm your host, I'm your host, I'm Renata Ranue. In December, the offices of two of Bangladesh's biggest newspapers, |
| 1:01.1 | The Daily Star and Protom Allo were surrounded by mobs, attacked and set on fire. |
| 1:07.4 | At the Daily Star, journalists were forced to take shelter on the roof of the building. |
| 1:12.4 | They were eventually rescued by the army, and many required hospital treatment. |
| 1:17.8 | Proto Malo is a Bengali language sister paper of The Daily Star. |
| 1:22.6 | It was also attacked at the same time. |
| 1:25.2 | The BBC's Shortik Biswas went to Dhaka to investigate the causes of this |
| 1:30.2 | violence and he's with me now. Shortik, welcome to the fifth floor and thank you for finding time for us. |
| 1:37.2 | Thank you. First of all, what were the signs of trouble in Dhaka on the 18th of December? |
| 1:43.5 | This attack has a very curious genesis because, you know, that day, Sharif Osman Hadi, |
| 1:51.5 | who was a young, prominent youth leader, had died in a Singapore hospital after being shot |
| 1:58.8 | by masked attackers outside at Dhaka Mos the previous week. |
... |
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