Bangladesh’s journalism community has announced plans to hold a nationwide convention in mid-January, signalling a collective response to a series of violent attacks on prominent media organisations and senior editors. The announcement was made by A K Azad, president of the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB), amid widespread concern that the recent incidents represent a direct assault on press freedom, democratic norms and the rule of law.
The proposed convention will bring together journalists from across the country and is expected to serve as a decisive platform for announcing further protest programmes and coordinated actions. Speaking after a joint protest meeting, A K Azad said the scale and gravity of the attacks had made unity within the media community both urgent and unavoidable. “Our voices cannot be silenced,” he said, stressing that journalists must stand together to resist intimidation and violence.
The protest meeting, held on Monday at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka, was jointly organised by NOAB and the Editors’ Council under the title “Bangladesh Under Mob Violence”. The gathering drew a wide cross-section of society, including leaders of major political parties, representatives of professional and business bodies, journalists’ organisations and members of civil society. Following the meeting, participants formed a human chain on the road outside the hotel, symbolising solidarity with the attacked media outlets and demanding accountability.
A K Azad made it clear that the movement would continue until justice is ensured. He said protests would not cease until those responsible for the arson attacks on Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, Chhayanaut and Udichi are brought before the courts, and until journalists are able to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of expression without fear. He also highlighted what he described as a failure of timely protection, noting that The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam had sought security assistance after the attack on Prothom Alo but received no effective response. “When help finally arrived, it was after the damage had already been done,” Azad remarked.
Political leaders echoed these sentiments. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir described the incidents as not merely attacks on individual newspapers but as an attack on democracy itself, calling the night of violence a “black day for the media”.
The attacks took place last Thursday night and were widely described as organised and deliberate. Prothom Alo, the country’s largest daily newspaper, suffered extensive vandalism, arson and looting, leaving its office premises largely destroyed. On the same night, The Daily Star faced similar acts of violence, while Nurul Kabir, editor of New Age and president of the Editors’ Council, was publicly harassed.