Photo: BSS

Journalists form human chain in Khulna protesting attacks on Prothom Alo, 
Daily Star

KHULNA, Dec 24, 2025 (BSS) - Journalists in Khulna this afternoon formed a 
human chain protesting the attacks, vandalism and arson at the offices of the 
country's two leading newspapers -- Prothom Alo and The Daily Star-- and 
demanding an end to harassment of media workers.

The programme was held in front of the Khulna Press Club in the afternoon 
under the banner "Working Journalists in Khulna".

Presided over by writer, journalist and researcher Gouranga Nandi, speakers 
said the attacks were not directed at any single media outlet, rather, they 
constituted a direct assault on independent journalism, freedom of expression 
and the country's democratic framework.

They said they were not standing for any particular newspaper, but for truth, 
freedom and democracy.
 

Addressing the programme, speakers said, "Any attack on the media causes our 
hearts to bleed. The assaults on Prothom Alo and The Daily Star are also 
attacks on the spirit of the great Liberation War and the Mass Uprising of 
'24'."

Journalists in Khulna said they had repeatedly faced repression. After the 
'24 Mass Uprising', they had hoped they would no longer have to take to the 
streets, but fascist attitudes and practices had not ended.

They noted that fascism is not confined to any individual or group, wherever 
such a mindset prevails, journalists would continue to resist it as they have 
in the past.

The speakers demanded identification and prosecution of those involved in the 
attacks and disclosure of who led them from behind the scenes.

Abdur Razzaq Rana, general secretary of the Metropolitan Journalists Union 
(MUJ) conducted the programme while Enamul Haque, convener of the Khulna 
Press Club, Md Rashidul Islam, president of MUJ Khulna, and journalists 
Kaushik Dey, Abu Hena Mostafa Jamal Poplu, Md Ershad Ali, Abul Hasan Himalay, 
Rakibul Islam Moti, Sheikh Al-Ehsan, Kazi Shamim Ahmed and Ashraful Islam 
Noor, among others, spoke at the event. 

Meanwhile, a general diary (GD) has been filed with Khulna Sadar Police 
Station in connection with an attack, vandalism and an attempted arson at the 
Khulna Office of Prothom Alo.

The GD was lodged on Tuesday by Prothom Alo's Khulna correspondent Uttam 
Mondal.