Bigots fight street battle with Dhaka police
Fri, Apr 11th, 2008 3:33 pm BdST
Dhaka, April 11 (bdnews24.com)—Thousands of angry activists of an Islamist outfit fought a fierce battle with the police in the Baitul Mukarram Mosque area on Friday, leaving about 100 people injured.
Among the injured were four photographers who were on the scene to cover the clashes that raged for a second straight day over a so-called women's development policy, witnesses said.
The protesters alleged that the policy went against the principles of Islam.
The street battle with law enforcers started after Friday prayers as the protesters under the banner of the Anti-Quran Law Resistance Committee streamed out into the open through the northern gate of the national mosque to take out a procession.
Asked why it took the police so long to control the situation, Mokarram Hossain of the Shahbagh Police Control Room told bdnews24.com that the protesters had taken position inside the mosque compound.
"We were a bit tolerant but the protesters did not calm down," he said.
At a press conference, Islami Oikya Jote chairman Fazlul Haque Amini said the police had attacked them without provocation.
He claimed that more than 100 workers of the Islamist outfit had been injured in the clashes.
"We called a rally to drum up support for the anti-Quran rule, but the government is not fulfilling our demand," he added.
Amini threatened that the "fire ignited Friday would spread to every corner of the country".
Asked about mosaic stones taken off the mosque's wall, Amini said he was not aware of it.
http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=48992&cid=2&us=a0c27868af419298e5eab41acbcaf175
Among the injured were four photographers who were on the scene to cover the clashes that raged for a second straight day over a so-called women's development policy, witnesses said.
The protesters alleged that the policy went against the principles of Islam.
The street battle with law enforcers started after Friday prayers as the protesters under the banner of the Anti-Quran Law Resistance Committee streamed out into the open through the northern gate of the national mosque to take out a procession.
Asked why it took the police so long to control the situation, Mokarram Hossain of the Shahbagh Police Control Room told bdnews24.com that the protesters had taken position inside the mosque compound.
"We were a bit tolerant but the protesters did not calm down," he said.
At a press conference, Islami Oikya Jote chairman Fazlul Haque Amini said the police had attacked them without provocation.
He claimed that more than 100 workers of the Islamist outfit had been injured in the clashes.
"We called a rally to drum up support for the anti-Quran rule, but the government is not fulfilling our demand," he added.
Amini threatened that the "fire ignited Friday would spread to every corner of the country".
Asked about mosaic stones taken off the mosque's wall, Amini said he was not aware of it.
http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=48992&cid=2&us=a0c27868af419298e5eab41acbcaf175
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