Thousands of protesters armed with sticks, hammers, and excavators stormed the historic Dhaka residence of Bangladesh’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on Wednesday, torching the building and making attempts to demolish its adjacent independence monument.
This attack coincides with ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s defiant social media address, where she urged supporters to resist the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
The rally, –dubbed the “Bulldozer Procession– aimed to disrupt Hasina’s 9 p.m. livestream, – something protesters labeled a “provocation” against the interim administration.
The Students Against Discrimination group, leading the demonstrations, accused Hasina of clinging to her father’s 1972 Constitution, which they claim preserves the dynastic rule.
But in her impassioned address, Hasina—who survived the 1975 assassination of her family at the same house—vowed, “They can demolish a building, but not history.”
She then condemned the interim government’s “unconstitutional power grab” and rallied Bangladeshis to defend her father’s legacy, now enshrined in the fire-damaged Mujib Museum.
1975 Assassination and the Battle Over Bangladesh’s Identity
The attack reignited trauma from August 1975, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family were killed in the home. Hasina, who was abroad then, later transformed the site into a memorial. Protesters now seek to erase this symbol, calling the 1972 Constitution a relic of “authoritarian nostalgia.”
Since Hasina fled to India in August 2024 amid mass protests, Yunus’s administration has faced relentless unrest. Demonstrators have targeted symbols of Hasina’s regime, including government offices and the Awami League headquarters, deepening Bangladesh’s worst political crisis in decades.
Meanwhile, the Students Against Discrimination coalition demands abolishing the 1972 Constitution, arguing it centralizes power and stifles democracy. We reject a legacy built on one family’s bloodline,” said protest leader Ayesha Rahman, as crowds chanted, “New Bangladesh, New Laws.”
