Editors' Council, NOAB to hold joint meeting protesting mob violence
The joint protest meeting has been convened to discuss these concerns and to voice collective resistance against mob violence and attacks on press freedom
The Editors' Council and the Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) will jointly hold a protest meeting tomorrow (22 December).
The meeting titled "Bangladesh affected by mob violence", will take place at 11am at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka, according to a press invitation sent to the media.
In the invitation, the organisers said Bangladesh's democratic values are increasingly coming under threat due to a series of organised mob attacks.
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They referred to the violent incidents that took place last Thursday (18 December), when the offices of leading national dailies Prothom Alo and The Daily Star's offices were attacked, vandalised, looted and set on fire.
During the attacks, Editors' Council President Nurul Kabir was also physically assaulted, it added.
The Editors' Council and NOAB said the latest incident of "mob violence", which occurred during the tenure of the interim government, was not merely an attack on the media, but a direct assault on society as a whole and on the country's democratic foundations.
They warned that such violence poses serious risks to Bangladesh's economy, resources, capacity and self-reliance.
The joint protest meeting has been convened to discuss these concerns and to voice collective resistance against mob violence and attacks on press freedom.
Leaders of political parties, professional bodies, business organisations, journalists' associations and representatives of civil society are expected to attend the event.
The organisers have called for broad participation in the meeting.
