On Friday, protesters and police clashed in Bangladesh’s capital as thousands of Muslims took to the streets to express anger over an online footage showing the alleged desecration of the Quran at a Hindu festival site, during a third day of inter-communal violence in the country recently.
Within hours, people in different areas of the country protested the incident, storming the streets, to the alleged offence and a violent clash broke out between two factions, which also involved the police. The crisis has generated to a number killings and destructions of properties.
Some 2,500 Muslim worshippers gathered outside Baitul Mukarram Masjid on Friday, Bangladesh’s largest mosque in central Dhaka, demanding “exemplary punishment” for the “desecration” of the holy book. More than 5,000 people joined the protests, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
Meanwhile, police fired 50 rounds of blanks to disperse hundreds of protesters in Chittagong, local police official Bijoy Basak said.
Similarly, internet services were shut down across the country in an apparent bid to prevent the spread of violence.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said those responsible for the attacks would be brought to justice. Many now fear that these clashes could be the beginning of more tensions and the end the religious harmony that had lasted in this region for many years.
