Hundreds of members of hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam attacked Hindu temples and a train in eastern Bangladesh on Sunday. Violence continued to spread across the country in the wake of a two-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The recent violence against Bangladesh’s Hindu minority began days ago on March 17, as Muslim mobs attacked Hindu homes armed with sticks, rods, sickles and other home-made weapons allegedly over a Facebook post by a young Hindu man. The Facebook post allegedly criticised Mamanul Haque, a leader of the Hefazat-e-Islam. Seventy to eighty Hindu houses were attacked in the incident.
Since then, despite arrests by the police, the violence against Hindus has continued unabated.
Local police and doctors said at least 11 protesters have been killed since Friday in clashes with police during demonstrations organised by Islamist groups against the Indian leader’s visit.
On Friday, dozens of people were injured in the densely-populated capital Dhaka as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.
Violence has raged on since Modi’s departure, as anger has swelled over the deaths.
Muslim mobs attack train, temples
Modi arrived in Dhaka on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War that heralded Bangladesh’s birth as a nation. Modi left on Saturday after gifting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina some 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine shots.
Thousands of Islamist activists marched down streets across Bangladesh on Sunday.
Activists with the Hefazat-e-Islam group attacked a train in the eastern district of Brahmanbaria, resulting in ten people being injured, a police official said.
“They attacked the train and damaged its engine room and almost all the coaches,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Several government offices, including the land office and a government-sponsored music academy, were set on fire and several Hindu temples were also attacked, said Javed Rahim, a journalist in Brahmanbaria town.
“We are in extreme fear and feeling really helpless,” Rahim said, adding: “Even the press club was attacked, leaving many injured, including the press club president.”
One protester, who sustained an injury during Saturday’s clash in Brahmanbaria, died on Sunday.
Islamist activists also set alight two buses in the western district of Rajshahi on Sunday, while hundreds of protesters clashed with police in several places, pelting them with stones, three police sources in three districts said.
Protesters used electric poles, timber and sand bags to block roads and police retaliated with rubber bullets and tear gas, leaving dozens injured in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka, one police official said. Protesters also vandalised and burned several buses in Dhaka as they blocked many roads, a police official said.
The protests have flared into wider demonstrations against police killings, and the Hefazat-e-Islam enforced a nationwide strike on Sunday.
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