Fresh Hifazat violence convulses parts of Bangladesh during shutdown

Hifazat-e Islam has pulverised several districts of Bangladesh with a fresh wave of violence as supporters of the radical group clashed with security agencies and pro-government activists during a nationwide shutdown which was called over deaths during protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.

The flare-up of violence on Sunday came after a night of tense calm as the adherents of the Islamist advocacy group of madrasa teachers and students, which wants woman denied education beyond Class 4, blocked roads and railway tracks.

In Brahmanbaria, where five protesters died in Saturday’s clashes, madrasa students rampaged through the town for the third day on Sunday, vandalising and carrying out arson attacks on a number of government and private establishments including a famous temple of Hindus.

At least two people died in hospital from injuries sustained in clashes with the police and Border Guard Bangladesh. Witnesses said the protesters and the law enforcers fought a running battle at Paschim Medda and Sarail’s Khatihata for several hours from Sunday morning.

The Hifazat workers carried out arson attacks on the offices of Brahmanbaria District Council and municipality, the municipality auditorium, district library, Alauddin Sangitangon music school, Anandamoyee Kalibari, more than 50 stalls of a development fair at Dhirendranath Dutta Bhasha Chattar, the office and residence of district Awami League’s general secretary, and the homes of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s district unit president and general secretary.

They also attacked Brahmanbaria Press Club, injuring at least two journalists, and tried to attack the district police lines and Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited.

The firefighrters struggled to reach the sites due to barricades put up by the protesters. All businesses were shut. No inter-district bus left the town.

The authorities closed the Dhaka to Chattogram and Sylhet routes after the Islamists had thrown brickbats at a train. At least two trains packed with passengers were stranded due to the disruption.

Modi arrived in Dhaka on Friday on a two-day visit to mark Bangladesh's golden jubilee of independence and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He also visited temples in Satkhira and Gopalganj, and Bangabandhu’s mausoleum in Tungipara.

Hifazat and some other groups objected to inviting him to the celebrations because of his government’s policy towards the minority Muslims in India.

The home ministry in a notice on Sunday evening threatened to go tough if “religious fanaticism and violence” centring Hifazat’s protests do not stop.

People walk as Hifazat-e Islam workers carry out mayhem blocking the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in Narayanganj's Signboard area during the radical group's shutdown on Sunday, Mar 28, 2021. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

The ministry also said the government noticed with “deep concern that a quarter with vested political interest is using orphans and children in arson attacks on public properties and homes of politicians”.

It warned against fanning the violence through a disinformation campaign on social media, saying the rumourmongers will be identified and brought to justice.

In Chattogram’s Hathazari, where four people were killed in the protests on Friday, a blockade remained in place for 55 hours to 10pm on Sunday.

The authorities removed brick and tin sheet walls, and fill in holes dug by the protesters on the Chattogram-Fatikchhari-Khagrachhari Highway.     

In Narayanganj, a man was shot during a clash in Mouchak area of Siddhirganj around 11:30 am as the Hifazat workers blocked the Dhaka-Chattagram Highway with tree trunks. The stick-wielding activists burnt tyres on a stretch of road from Mouchak to Shimrail.

A group of madrasa students gathered on the highway in Sanarpara and Signboard areas in the morning, chanting slogans and burning tyres in support of the general strike.

Some passengers began to walk to Dhaka from Kanchpur as the violence left some buses stranded in the Signboard area. A few buses had left Sayedabad, but the madrasa students blocked them at Signboard, said Md Abul Kalam, president of Saydabad Interdistrict Bus Owners Association.

The protesters of the Qawmi madrasa-based Hifazat clashed with the activists of the ruling Awami League and its affiliates who marched in Sylhet in counter-demonstration.

When the pro-government activists staged a rally at City Point in the afternoon, Hifazat workers from Bandarbazar threw brickbats, injuring at least 10 people, said BM Ashrafullah, an additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police.

“Hifazat activists tried to create anarchy by throwing brickbats in the name of hartal (shutdown). They have been stopped,” said Nasir Uddin Khan, general secretary of the Awam League’s Sylhet District Unit.

Two rundown buses of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation caught fire at a depot in Rajshahi, but the authorities could not confirm whether the protesters torched the vehicles.

In the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram, traffic remained normal. Law enforcement personnel kept vigil at key points in Dhaka. No major disturbances were reported.

Long-haul bus services on the Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet routes have been suspended since Sunday morning for security concerns. However, various types of public transportation services, including buses, were seen operating in the city areas. A number of private cars were also spotted in the streets.

A group of people had gathered at the Kutubkhali Jame Masjid in support of the strike and the police dispersed them, according to Taposh Pal, a duty officer of Jatrabari Police Station.

Kamalapur Railway police station duty officer SI Riaz Mahmud said all the trains have left on time since morning. The strike has had no effect there.

Although the BNP did not formally support the Hifazat strike, it has announced a two-day programme to protest the loss of lives during the clashes. The party will hold rallies and processions in all metropolitan areas, including Dhaka, on Monday and procession or assemblies in the districts on Tuesday.