Violence erupts after Islamists demand bloggers' execution
- 11 years ago
Unrest on the streets of Dhaka.
Violence erupted in Bangladesh as hundreds of thousands of Islamist demonstrators, many of them wielding sticks and hurling stones, sought to drive back their opponents. Police fired rubber bullets to break up the crowds and to try and contain the clashes the which end with in a showdown at a local park with scores injured.
Tension between religious conservatives and their opponents, many of them students, came to a head after thousands of Islamists rallied to demand the government execute four atheist bloggers.
They say the bloggers insulted Islam and care calling on the government to enforce anti-blasphemy laws.
One prominent cleric took it a step further, threatening the government that if parliament didn't pass a law making it legal to hang atheists, they would take even more action and Bangladesh would burn.
Violence erupted in Bangladesh as hundreds of thousands of Islamist demonstrators, many of them wielding sticks and hurling stones, sought to drive back their opponents. Police fired rubber bullets to break up the crowds and to try and contain the clashes the which end with in a showdown at a local park with scores injured.
Tension between religious conservatives and their opponents, many of them students, came to a head after thousands of Islamists rallied to demand the government execute four atheist bloggers.
They say the bloggers insulted Islam and care calling on the government to enforce anti-blasphemy laws.
One prominent cleric took it a step further, threatening the government that if parliament didn't pass a law making it legal to hang atheists, they would take even more action and Bangladesh would burn.