Daily Janakantha: Journos attacked while protesting termination; 10 hurt

At least 10 journalists, who were sacked from daily Janakantha recently, were injured in an attack during a protest in front of the newspaper's office in Dhaka's Eskaton area yesterday afternoon.

Three of the injured were stated to be in critical conditions and were taken to Dhaka Community Hospital in Moghbazar, one of the 26 sacked journalists Bivash Barai told this newspaper.

The incident took place around 5pm when the sacked journalists along with some leaders of journalists' community were protesting the wholesale termination from the Bangla daily, demanding reinstatement.

The journalists said they began their protest after the authorities of Janakantha issued a termination letter to 26 of them through email on March 15.

The protestors said they gathered in front of the Globe-Janakantha building around 12:30pm and saw the main entrance locked. They also locked the gate from outside and started a sit-in on the road in front of the building.

Dhaka Reporters' Unity president Mursalin Nomani, Dhaka Union of Journalists joint secretary Khairul Alam and other leaders of the two organisations joined the sit-in to express solidarity.

The protesters said as the people inside the building shouted to open the gate in the afternoon, they unlocked it.

At one stage, a group of people from inside the building attacked the protesting journalists with sticks, iron rods and bricks, leaving at least 10 injured, they said.

The protesters claimed that the attackers were outsiders.

None of the officials of Globe-Janakantha building could be reached for comments.