Five shot dead in new deadly clashes in Bangladesh

At least five people were shot dead as police clashed with Islamist demonstrators in Bangladesh on Saturday, a day after clashes between police and protesters against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left another five dead.

The violence, which began Friday at the main mosque in the
capital Dhaka, rocked several key districts in the Muslim-majority nation of
168 million.

Following Friday’s fatal shootings, five more people were shot dead in new clashes in the eastern border district of Brahmanbaria, two doctors told AFP on Saturday, as police clashed with villagers and supporters of the Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam.

“Three were brought dead. Two died in the hospital. All
five have gun-shot wounds,” Abdullah al Mamun, a doctor at the emergency
ward of Brahmanbaria 25-bed state-run hospital, told AFP. 

“Another 12 were brought in the hospital with gun-shot
wounds and condition of one is critical. He was shot in the head,” he said.

Brahmanbaria police refused to comment on the deaths, though
two officers said Islamists had staged protests in several places in the
district Saturday.

A journalist in Brahmanbaria said some 3,000 protesters
including Hefazat supporters and Muslim villagers demonstrated in the district,
while a doctor said protesters torched several government offices during the
clashes.

Bangladesh has deployed Border Guard Bangladesh, which also
acts as a reserve paramilitary force for law and order, in many parts in the
country since Friday night.

Authorities also appeared to have restricted access to
Facebook after images and reports of the violence were posted.

But on Saturday, thousands turned out to protest against police having opened fire and against Modi’s visit for Independence Day celebrations, following calls for nationwide demonstrations from Hefazat, the country’s largest Islamist group.

Several thousand Hefazat supporters staged protests at
Hathazari, a rural town outside the country’s second-largest city which
witnessed the worst violence on Friday when four protesters were shot dead. A
fifth protester had been killed Friday in Brahmanbaria.

Hefazat spokesman Jakaria Noman Foyezi told AFP that around
10,000 students of the Hathazari Madrasa were on the road blocking a key
highway linking the port city with the country’s hill districts.

Ruhul Amin, the government administrator of the town, said
Hefazat supporters put up makeshift walls and dug up the road to block traffic,
but that there was no violence.

Mohammad Jahangir, a senior Chittagong police officer, said
border guards, police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion have been deployed
to the town.

Tear gas

In the northern district town of Habiganj, police fired
rubber bullets and tear gas at some 200 protesters from the main opposition
party, police inspector Syedul Mostafa told AFP.

“They became unruly and pelted rocks at us. We fired
rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them. We have arrested 10 people for
violence,” he said.

In the capital itself, hundreds of Islamists gathered at the
Baitul Mukarram Masjid, the country’s biggest mosque.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the protesters, who
chanted anti-Modi slogans, were Hefazat supporters.

The disturbances came as Bangladesh marked 50 years of
independence, with rights groups calling for an end to growing authoritarianism
including forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.

“The scenes of violence we witnessed… follow a
worryingly familiar pattern of behaviour by the Bangladeshi authorities,”
Amnesty International said, referring to Friday’s violence.

“The right to peaceful protest has come under concerted
attack, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, culminating in this type
of bloody repression,” said Sultan Mohammed Zakaria, a South Asia
researcher for Amnesty.

Hefazat, which was behind Friday’s protests in over a dozen
places, has also called for a strike Sunday.

Hefazat is known for its nationwide network and large-scale
protests demanding Bangladesh introduce blasphemy laws.

In 2013 police clashed with tens of thousands of Hefazat
supporters in Dhaka, leaving nearly 50 people dead.

As well as Hefazat, a diverse range of Bangladeshi groups —
including students, leftists and other Islamist outfits — have been staging
protests against Modi’s visit.

They accuse Modi and his Hindu-nationalist government of stoking religious tensions and inciting anti-Muslim violence including in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, when 1,000 people were killed.

Modi visited two key Hindu temples in rural districts of
southern Bangladesh on Saturday.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/global/2021/03/five-shot-dead-in-new-deadly-clashes-in-bangladesh/