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About: Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhan said she was harassed and physically assaulted in Mestre while in Italy for the Venice premiere of The Difficult Bride, alleging she was targeted over her support for the July 2024 uprising.
Title: Azmeri Haque Badhan’s Venice Account: Harassment After a Festival Premiere
Subject: Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhan describes alleged assault and harassment in Mestre during the Venice Film Festival
About: Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhan said she was harassed and physically assaulted in Mestre while in Italy for the Venice premiere of The Difficult Bride, alleging she was targeted over her support for the July 2024 uprising.
Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhan said she was surrounded, insulted, and physically assaulted in Mestre, on the mainland opposite Venice, after attending the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. She gave her first public account in videos and a Facebook Live from her verified page late on 7 September 2026, Bangladesh time. Italian newspapers including Corriere del Veneto and La Repubblica later reported the same account, citing her statement that she was with family, including a young child.
Badhan was in Italy for Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride, which had its world premiere at Sala Darsena on 6 September in the festival’s Orizzonti competition. Bangladeshi outlets noted that the selection made the film the first Bangladeshi feature to compete at Venice. The reported confrontation took place after official festival appearances, when Badhan said she went to a park near her hotel with her brother and his family.
In her account, a group of fellow Bangladeshis approached her, threw water, soft drinks and eggs, knocked her phone from her hand, and struck her near the ear. She said her brother’s wife was pushed and that a small child with them screamed as the group cheered. She also said the men used sexist slurs, called her a “July militant” or “July fighter,” identified themselves as supporters of the banned Awami League and Bangladesh Chhatra League and as “soldiers of Bangabandhu,” and tried to force her to chant “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu” while filming and attempting to livestream the scene.
“I went to the park with my brother’s family,” she said in remarks later quoted by Corriere del Veneto. “Some Bangladeshis physically harassed me. They threw water and other objects at me. My little nephew was with me. The child screamed and cried while they celebrated.” She added that she felt they might kill her, and that when they called her a July fighter she answered that she was one. Videos she later posted show people crowding her and arguing; voices on the clips can be heard using the “July militant” label. Those videos circulated widely in Bangladesh and were reported by Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, The Business Standard, and Jago News.
Badhan said she filed a complaint with Italian police on 8 September at a Venice station, accompanied by officials from Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission. Golam Mortoza, then speaking publicly about the embassy’s contact with her, said video footage had been given to police and that festival organisers treated the matter as an attack on an invited guest. Italian reports said Digos, the special operations unit, was seeking to identify those involved from cameras and from Badhan’s own description. Festival authorities later arranged additional security and, according to Badhan after her return, moved her lodging to the Lido.
The allegation immediately entered Bangladesh’s political argument over the July–August 2024 student-led uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina’s long tenure. Badhan has spoken publicly in support of that movement. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir told parliament that an attack on a July fighter was an attack on the democratic system and that Dhaka would provide consular help. Information adviser Zahed Ur Rahman condemned the reported assault. After landing in Dhaka in mid-September, Badhan told reporters the episode had damaged Bangladesh’s image abroad. “It was not just verbal abuse from a distance, slogans or throwing water. They laid their hands on me,” she said, according to The Asian Age and Daily Bangla Post.
A later dispute with her film team, reported by The Business Standard and other Dhaka outlets after her return, is separate from the Mestre confrontation itself. Badhan said the team distanced itself; a source close to the production cited security concerns and tensions after remarks she made on live video. Italian coverage has treated the assault allegation as under investigation rather than as a closed court finding.
Coverage on https://fashiontalktoday.com/ has followed how a Bangladeshi festival appearance became a story about political anger traveling with the diaspora. Independent confirmation of every detail in the videos and of each named suspect remains with Italian investigators. What is established in public reporting is Badhan’s own account, the existence of circulating footage, a police complaint, consular involvement, and official statements from Dhaka. Those facts, not courtroom verdicts, are what Bangladesh has been debating since the clips first appeared.
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