Dhaka: Thousands of protesters took to the streets in southeastern Bangladesh, torching Buddhist temples and ransacking neighbourhoods over a Facebook post they said was derogatory to Islam. Authorities called out paramilitary troops to control the situation in southeastern Ramu town near the port city of Chittagong after Muslim fundamentalists torched 11 Buddhist temples and damaged two others.
Some of the attackers alleged that a follower of the faith posted a photo defaming Islam on Facebook.
Witnesses and officials said several thousand Muslims took to the street shortly before midnight on Saturday and attacked the temples and the Buddhist neighbourhoods in the area forcing the residents to flee their homes.
“During the several hourlong attack, they torched 11 Buddhist temples, damaged two others and ransacked at least 30 Buddhist homes... no casualty was reported as most Buddhists fled their homes to evade the attack,” a local journalist said. He said a group of people staged a street protest at around 10.30pm alleging that a Buddhist youth in the area posted an offensive picture and instigated the mob to carry out the attack on the old Buddhist sites. Paramilitary border guard Bangladesh (BGB) troops were called on immediately along with anticrime rapid action battalion (RAB) and riot police.
Army soldiers from nearby camps were also sent to patrol the neighbourhood.
“The situation was brought under control before dawn and we enforced a ban on street rallies and protests,” Cox’s Bazaar district’s police chief Salim Mohammad Jahangir said. He said police had escorted the man accused of posting the photograph and his mother to safety.
Home minister Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir flew to the scene and ordered immediate punitive actions against the attackers, calling the incident part of a plot to destroy the traditional communal harmony in the country. Information minister Hassanul Haque Inu in a press conference at his office in Dhaka said “an identified communal force” carried out the attack under a pre-planned design.
The Buddhists, meanwhile, staged a human chain protest at the port city demanding action against the attackers and warning that the members of the community would be forced to wage a bigger protest if no action was taken. “Unless the culprits are immediately arrested and given punishment, we will be forced to go for fast unto death,” Bangladesh Buddhist Association president Ajit Ranjan Barua said. PTI
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