4 killed in countrywide violence

At least four people, including a madrasa teacher, were killed and many others injured when activists of 12 “Islamic” and like-minded parties clashed with the police in different parts of the country, including capital Dhaka, on Friday in protest against what they called anti-Islam campaign using the internet and blogs.

Two people were killed in Gaibandha and one each in Sylhet and Jhenaidah districts, police said.

The clashes started when the “Islamists” and like-minded parties, including Islami Andolon Bangladesh led by Peer Chormonai, took out protest marches in different parts of the country under the banner of different organisations after the Juma prayers demanding punishment for the “atheist bloggers” and in protest against the “conspiracy” to ban the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Police suspect that activists of Jamaat and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir might have used the programmes announced by the 12 Islamist parties to fight back against the countrywide call to ban them and capital punishment for war criminals.

bdnews24.com Sylhet Correspondent reports that at least 150 people were injured, 10 of them sustaining bullet injuries, in clashes between the police and the Islamists, apparently backed by the Jamaat, in the city’s Chauhatta and Zindabazar areas.

An unidentified man, 28, died on his way to the Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital. Dr Ujjal Dutta of the hospital’s Emergency Department said that the youth sustained bullet wounds in the stomach and back.

Five of those who are undergoing treatment at the hospital after sustaining bullet injuries have been identified as Mokhlesur Ahmed, 40, Suhen Ahmed, 35, Khairul Ahmed, 32, Shahid Chowdhury, 45, and Faruk Ahmed, 32.

The identities of the others could not be known immediately.

Officer-In-Charge of the Sylhet Kotwali Police Station Ataur Rahman said that they arrested 56 people from the clash sites.

Stating that the area stretching from Chauhatta to Zindabazar turned into a battlefield, he said the “Islamists” set fire to the local outlet of the army-owned Trust Bank and a police pick-up van. They also vandalised the Mujib-Jahan Blood Bank, BMA Building and the boundary wall of the Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar.

Police used teargas shells and sound grenade and fired from shotguns to bring the situation under control.

In Jhenaidah, a madrasa teacher was killed and at least 50 others injured in a clash after a group of youths obstructed a procession brought out by the “Islamists”, who are demanding dissolution of war crimes trial.

The deceased was identified as Abdus Salam, 55, a teacher of the Siddiquia Alia Madrasa of the district headquarters.

Police rushed to the spot and fired several rounds of teargas shells to disperse the crowd.

Additional Superintendent of Police Hasanuzzaman said that a group of youths equipped with sticks prevented the “Islamists” from proceeding with their procession in the town’s Hatkhola area.

Salam, from Baliakandi upazila of Rajbari district, was injured in the clash and later succumbed to his injuries after being rushed to the Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital.

Two people were arrested in this connection and additional police forces were deployed to avoid any untoward incident.

The “Islamists” assaulted two photo-journalists and snatched away their cameras.

In Gaibandha, a group of demonstrators, under the banner of Hefajat-e-Islam, attacked and vandalised the protest podium, built to express solidarity with the 'Ganajagaran Mancha' in Shahbagh, in the district’s Palashbari upazila headquarters.

Police Superintendent AKM Nahidul Islam said that clashes broke out when the law enforces tried to stop the “Islamists” from vandalising the podium. At least 50 people, including police personnel, were injured in the clash.

At least five people sustained bullet injuries when police opened fire to bring the situation under control. Two of them died on their way to hospital but could not be identified immediately.

The Islamists also clashed with the law enforcers in Gaibandha town.

Police arrested 20 people from the two spots.

Armed protesters vandalised a replica of the Ganajagaran Mancha at Shahbag, at the Dhaka-Rangpur intersection after the police stopped a procession starting from the Rangpur Bus Stand. Police fired 20 rounds of fire arms, rubber bullets and lobbed teargas shells to control the protesters who had assembled at the bus stand after Friday’s Juma prayers in several mosques in Palashbari.

The police official said that the agitators also vandalised many vehicles on the highway. Vehicular movement on the highway remained suspended for two hours following the clash.