Agitated students and youths attacked, vandalized, and set fire to the residences of Awami League Barisal city unit President and former mayor Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah and Awami League leader Amir Hossain Amu during protests in Barisal on Thursday.
Protesters also began demolishing a sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman located at the Barisal Press Club.
Tension gripped the city, particularly in areas near the homes of Awami League leaders and activists, with fear spreading among residents.
No law enforcement officers were visibly present during the attacks.
Attack on Sadiq Abdullah’s residence
At around 1am on Thursday, leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, along with students and youths, gathered in front of Sadiq Abdullah’s residence on Kalibari Road in Barisal city.
Initially, the protesters attempted to breach the main gate with a bulldozer but were blocked by military personnel.
However, around 1:30am, they successfully broke through the entrance and began demolishing parts of the house.
As the destruction unfolded, protesters chanted: "My brother is in the grave, why is the killer outside?"
More than a hundred students stormed the house, using the bulldozer to tear down sections of the ground floor. They then set fire to parts of the three-story building, including several vehicles parked inside. Though locals managed to extinguish the flames, smoke was still visible hours later.
This residence had been previously targeted on August 5, when protesters set it on fire, destroying five vehicles and all belongings inside.
Three of Sadiq Abdullah’s close political associates, including a BCC councillor and a Jubo League leader, reportedly perished in that fire. Since then, the house had remained abandoned and locked.
Attack on Amir Hossain Amu’s residence
At around 2am on Thursday, students from the same movement attacked the residence of Amir Hossain Amu on Bogra Road, near Opsonin Pharmaceuticals factory in Barisal city.
Security guard Mizanur Rahman said that the protesters broke through the iron gate with a bulldozer, ransacked the house, and looted valuables.
They also stormed the residence of Sentu, a director of Opsonin Group, setting fire to his belongings.
Additionally, they demolished a tin-roofed house belonging to Opsonin founder Abdul Khaleque Khan.
While protesters attempted to bring down Amu’s main residence, they failed to breach the walls. However, they smashed windows and doors, looted possessions, and set fire to parts of the house.
As the fires spread, panic gripped the surrounding area.
Mohammad Belal Uddin, deputy assistant director of the Barisal Fire Service and Civil Defence, confirmed that 22 firefighters arrived at 4:22am and worked until 6:03am to extinguish the flames.
When journalists visited the sites at 10:30am, they found broken fences, shattered windows, and remnants of looted belongings strewn across the premises.
Poultry and pigeons from the homes had reportedly been taken away by outsiders.
Amu’s residence was completely emptied of valuables, while scattered household items lay around the other two houses.
Later on Thursday afternoon, protesters began demolishing the mural of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the entrance of Barisal Press Club on Agorpur Road in the city centre.
Barisal Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shafikul Islam said: "We are actively working in many cases, but we are facing difficulties. We sent police after receiving reports of the looting at Amir Hossain Amu’s house."
Meanwhile, reports from Jhalokathi indicate that agitated students and youths attacked and damaged the boundary walls of Amir Hossain Amu’s residence on Renalds Road in the district town on Thursday.
