A group of people set fire to the Awami League’s central office in Dhaka’s Gulistan area on Thursday, authorities said. Eyewitnesses reported that 10 to 15 individuals piled wood, cartons, and other materials on the building’s fourth floor before igniting them around 1:00pm.
The office has been abandoned since August 5 last year, when crowds looted and burned it after the fall of the former regime.
The incident unfolded during the Awami League’s online-announced “lockdown” programme, declared ahead of a verdict in an International Crimes Tribunal case against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and two others. The tribunal set November 17 for the verdict. The interim government banned all Awami League activities on May 12.