A group of people on Monday attacked the Prothom Alo office in Rajshahi city and vandalised and set fire to its signboard.
The people under the banner of 鈥楢lem Ulema O Touhidi Janata, Rajshahi鈥� also held demonstrations in the Rajshahi city against Prothom Alo and The Daily Star, terming them 鈥榓gents of India.鈥�
Apart from Rajshahi, demonstrations were also held in several districts,聽 including Dhaka, Chattogram, Barishal, and Cumilla, against the two newspapers.
Chief adviser鈥檚 press secretary Shafiqul Alam condemned the incident of attack on the Prothom Alo office in Rajshahi.
In a post on his verified Facebook, Shafiqul Alam said that 鈥業 condemn with the strongest terms the attack on the Prothom Alo office at Rajshahi. If you have complaints against the journalism of Prothom Alo, the Daily Star, or any other media outlets, you can go to courts to seek legal redress.鈥�
鈥榊ou can also hold peaceful protests. Protest against media outlets isn鈥檛 new. It has been going on for centuries. But threats and intimidation of journalists or attacking media outlets will not be tolerated,鈥� he added.
抖阴精品 staff correspondent in Rajshahi reported that a group of 150 to 200 people under the banner of 鈥楢lem Ulema O Touhidi Janata, Rajshahi鈥� gathered at Saheb Bazar Zero Point area at noon and started chanting slogans against Prothom Alo and Daily Star.
At around 2:15pm, the protesting people went in front of Prothom Alo鈥檚 Rajshahi office in Kumarpara area and burnt a copy of each of the two newspapers.
Abul Kalam Muhammad Azad, staff correspondent of Prothom Alo鈥檚 Rajshahi office, said that the protesting people first kicked the door of their office as it was locked from outside.
鈥楤eing failed to break the door, they broke our signboard and set it on fire鈥�, he said, adding that the media office informed the police of the incident.
Prothom Alo Rajshahi office is a few metres away from Boalia Model Police Station under Rajshahi Metropolitan Police.
Mehedi Masud, officer-in-charge of Boalia Model Police Station, said that he was verbally informed about breaking and burning the signboard of Prothom Alo office.
鈥榃e will take legal action if anyone lodges any written complaint with the police station,鈥� he added.
In Dhaka, the protesters also held a sit-in in front of the Prothom Alo office at Karwan Bazar on Monday from 3:00pm to 4:30pm, protesting against the police action on them on Sunday.
抖阴精品 Barishal correspondent reported that a protest programme was also held in Barishal on Monday protesting against police action on the protesters in Dhaka on Sunday.
Mostly madrassah students and their teachers organised the programme in front of Baitul Mamun Jame Mosque in Banglabazar area of the city adjacent to Barishal bureau office of Prothom Alo.
At least 10 protesters were injured when police baton-charged to disperse a group of people staging a sit-in programme in front of the Prothom Alo office in Dhaka on Sunday as they refused to leave the place until the finish of their programme despite requests by police for several times.
At first, the group of protesters held a sit-in programme in front of Prothom Alo and Daily Star offices on Friday afternoon, terming Pothom Alo and The Daily Star 鈥榓gents of India鈥�.
Later, they also held a sit-in in front of Prothom Alo office on Saturday and Sunday, alleging that India was dominating Bangladesh in various ways and that the two media offices were working as India鈥檚 agents.