Four shot dead as Bangladesh demo against Modi turns violent

At least four people were killed in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong on Friday after police fired at protesters during a demonstration against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, police officials said.

“We had to fire teargas and rubber bullets to disperse them as they entered a police station and carried out extensive vandalism,” Rafiqul Islam, the police official told Reuters, referring to protesters.

Modi arrived in the capital Dhaka on Friday for a two-day visit.

The protesters in Chittagong were from the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, a group opposed to the visit of Modi, who critics say has been pushing a Hindu-first agenda in India.

Mohammad Alauddin, another police official in Chittagong, said that eight people were brought to a hospital in the city with gunshot wounds, of which four succumbed to their injuries.

Protests also flared in the capital Dhaka, where dozens of people, including two journalists, were injured in clashes with police, witnesses said.

Ruhul Amin, the government administrator of Hathazari town, said up to 1,500 supporters of Hefazat attacked a police station chanting anti-Modi slogans.

“They attacked us all of a sudden,” he said, without confirming whether any protesters were killed.

Hefazat spokesperson Mir Idris accused police of “opening fire” at their “peaceful” supporters.

“There were some 5,000 protesters. They were all Hefazat supporters and they were mostly madrasa students. They were protesting Modi’s visit and police actions against demonstrators in Dhaka,” he said.

He was referring to other smaller clashes at the compound of the country’s largest mosque in central Dhaka after Friday prayers when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at brick-throwing protesters.

At least nine of these protesters were injured, he said.

Hefazat aside, a diverse range of Bangladeshi groups — including students, leftist and other outfits — have been staging protests over the last few days against Modi’s visit.

They accuse Modi of stoking religious tensions and inciting anti-Muslim violence in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, which left about 1,000 people dead. Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time.

On Thursday more than 40 people were injured, including four police officers, during a student demonstration. At least 33 people were detained for violence.

Clashes also occurred at the elite state-run Dhaka University Thursday evening, when pro-government student activists allegedly beat dozens of anti-Modi student protesters.