NEW YORK/DHAKA — “Yunus is Jamaat’s pawn!” “Down with the regime of torture!” The chants rang out at John F. Kennedy International Airport as Awami League supporters confronted the entourage of Bangladesh’s interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
What began as jeers quickly turned chaotic on September 22, when eggs were hurled at Yunus’s associates, including National Citizen Party member secretary Akhter Hossain.
“Terrorist! Razakar’s son!” protesters shouted as the eggs struck Hossain’s back, a symbolic act of rage aimed at a regime they accuse of torture, killings, and communal violence back home.
Officials of the Yunus-led interim administration are encountering similar resistance from Bangladeshi diasporas abroad, who accuse the regime of torture and repression against Awami League supporters, as well as religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh.
“We promised to resist them wherever they go — and we kept our promise today,” said Dr. Siddiqur Rahman, president of the U.S. Awami League, who helped organize the rally.
Since the Yunus government, backed by the military and Islamist groups, has suppressed protest rights and curtailed free expression at home, expatriate Bangladeshis are seizing opportunities abroad to stage demonstrations.
“Enemies of Bangladesh”
Awami League activists had arrived early at Terminal 4, carrying placards and Bangladeshi flags. As BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and BNP adviser Humayun Kabir led the delegation out of the terminal, chants erupted: “Enemies of Bangladesh!” “Murderers of our brothers!”
Protesters shouted that BNP and NCP leaders were complicit in the killings of Awami League activists and the torching of homes after Hasina’s fall. “They killed thousands, they burned our houses, and now they walk in America like heroes?” shouted Tanvir Kaiser, a U.S.-based Awami League activist, before lying down in front of a vehicle carrying Yunus’s delegation. “Not here. Not in New York.”
The crowd’s fury was palpable. Some spat on the car, others pounded its windows, and younger activists hurled more eggs as police struggled to maintain order.
A Divided Reception
Protesters noted bitterly that while BNP and NCP leaders endured humiliation, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher was greeted with cheers from his followers. “This proves who Yunus is protecting,” said Hridoy Mia, leader of the U.S. Chhatra League. “The Jamaat killers are his allies — and that’s why they walk free while we, the sons of freedom fighters, are forced to shout in the streets.”
One demonstrator compared the moment to past years when Hasina visited the UNGA. “We protested against her too,” he admitted. “But never like this. Never with eggs, never with spit. Those protests were about accountability. This is about survival. We are shouting because our people are being killed back home.”
The Arrest in Jackson Heights
Hours later, police arrested Mizanur Rahman, identified as a Jubo League activist, in Jackson Heights. He was accused of participating in the egg-throwing attack. “They can arrest one of us, but they cannot silence the movement,” said a protester outside the Nabanna Party Hall, where the arrest took place. “Everywhere Yunus goes, he will see our faces.”
Siege at the Manhattan Hotel
By late afternoon, the protests had shifted to Manhattan, where Yunus’s delegation was staying. Awami League activists used social media and phone trees to mobilize, and by 4 p.m. a crowd of several hundred gathered outside the hotel.
Slogans shook the block: “No legitimacy for Yunus!” “Stop the torture in Bangladesh!” “Bring back Hasina!” Between chants, patriotic songs blasted from a speaker mounted on a van. Placards denounced the interim regime as “army- and Islamist-backed” and accused it of erasing Bangladesh’s secular legacy.
“We want the world to know — he is not our leader,” shouted one protester into a megaphone. “He came here to speak at the United Nations, but he represents nobody except killers and torturers.”
Police established barricades, keeping demonstrators on the sidewalk. Some attempted to push closer to the hotel doors, but officers pushed them back. At one point, eggs were lobbed toward the building, splattering against the barriers. Hotel guests arriving in taxis were rerouted through side entrances as chants grew louder.
“Down with Yunus!” “Justice for Hasina!” protesters cried until well after sundown. The rally dispersed around 8 p.m., with activists promising to reconvene near the UN headquarters when Yunus takes the podium later in the week.
“They Tortured Our People”
For many Awami League supporters in New York, the protests were not just political theater but an expression of personal anguish. “My cousin was beaten and arrested in Dhaka last year. He was never charged, just tortured for being an Awami League activist,” said Rahima Akter, who traveled from New Jersey for the rally. “When Yunus walks free in America, it is like spitting on our wounds.”
Another protester, Mujibur Rahman, invoked the attacks on Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadis after Hasina’s ouster. “They looted temples, they burned shrines, they chased people from their villages. And Yunus says it was ‘meticulously designed.’ Yes, it was designed — to destroy Bangladesh’s soul.”
The Dark Shadow of Bangladesh’s Crisis
Their anger is rooted in the upheaval of August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina was forced into exile after Islamist groups, backed by sections of the military, toppled her government. Yunus was installed as “Chief Adviser,” a post absent from Bangladesh’s constitution, in what Awami League loyalists call a coup.
Rights monitors have since catalogued widespread abuses: more than 300 killed in the first four days of the transition, thousands of minority homes looted or torched, journalists targeted, teachers humiliated, and statues of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Rabindranath Tagore defaced. An indemnity order shielded those responsible from prosecution, institutionalizing impunity.
By May 2025, the Awami League itself was banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act. More than 48,000 arrests were reported in a single month, including former MPs, artists, and academics. “This is why we protest,” said one demonstrator outside the Manhattan hotel. “We cannot do it in Dhaka. We cannot do it in Gopalganj. But in New York, we have a voice.”
Symbolism of an Egg
For protesters, the egging of Akhter Hossain was not random mischief but a symbol of defiance. “He was one of the faces of the movement that toppled Hasina,” said Tanvir Kaiser. “That egg carried the anger of every tortured activist, every burned house, every minority attacked.”
As Yunus prepares to address the UNGA, Awami League supporters vow to confront him again. “Wherever he goes, we will be there,” said Dr. Siddiqur Rahman. “He cannot hide behind the military in America. Here, we will expose him for what he is — the chief adviser of a regime of repression.”
