Dhaka, Dec. 19 -- Calling it the "darkest night" for journalism in the country, Prothom Alo Executive Editor Sajjad Sharif on Friday said the vandalism of the newspaper's office in Dhaka's Karwanbazar was a direct assault on freedom of speech and the news media in Bangladesh, forcing the newspaper to halt print publication for the first time in its 27-year history since its establishment in 1998.

The attack on the news outlets came after the death of Inquilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, one of the prominent figures of last year's July Uprising, when a group of people gathered in front of the offices of the newspapers and attacked them, as per Nagorik. The "miscreants" described by the Sharif also attacked another media out...