Crude bombs have been exploding in the streets, buses are going up in flames, and highways are being blocked as protests escalate across several districts in Bangladesh. The unrest is believed to be instigated by supporters of Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister who has lived in exile in India since 2024. The violence comes less than a month before Hasina's planned return to Bangladesh, raising fears of more mayhem in a country still recovering from the deadly protests that forced her out in August 2024.
On Thursday (November 12), the house of Nusrat Tabassum, an MP from the Nationalist Congress Party, was set on fire allegedly by Awami League activists in Kushtia. The day before, two buses and a truck were torched in Dhaka, while a Grameen Bank branch was burned in Pabna Sadar. These incidents follow at least 22 cases of arson and crude bomb explosions across Bangladesh on November 9 and 10. At least 15 crude bomb explosions took place in Dhaka alone between November 1 and 8, according to media reports.
The timing of these incidents is significant as Hasina announced her intention to return to Bangladesh by December earlier this year. Her return could trigger fresh turmoil as she faces a death sentence, her Awami League remains banned, and her supporters and opponents remain divided over her future. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration had banned Hasina's Awami League and initiated legal proceedings over the deadly crackdown on protesters in 2024. A tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia in November 2025, a conviction she has rejected as politically motivated.
The unrest took a more political turn on November 10 when the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of Hasina's Awami League, called for a nationwide blockade. The organisation had announced the programme through its Facebook page, urging supporters to enforce the shutdown across Bangladesh. In Shariatpur, BCL activists blocked the Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway near the Padma Bridge toll plaza and vandalized trucks.
The incidents have caused multiple injuries and arrests, with at least one person killed in Faridpur after becoming trapped inside a parked bus that was set on fire. Buses have been torched, and crude bombs hurled in Dhaka's outskirts and several other districts. According to The Business Standard, 19 buses were set ablaze and explosions occurred at 27 locations between November 7 and 9. At least 22 more incidents involving arson and crude bomb explosions were reported across the country on November 9 and 10.