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CHITTAGONG: At least four people were killed and several others injured in the Chittagong area of Bangladesh after protesters clashed with police during a demonstration against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
Local TV showed protesters throwing stones at the police, who were heavily present on the streets near Dhaka’s Baitul Mokarram mosque. Local media reported that at least 40 people were injured, including journalists, and were taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.
A senior police official Mohammad Alauddin, in Chittagong, said that eight people were brought to a hospital in the city with gunshot wounds, of which four succumbed to their injuries during treatment. Mohammad Alauddin further said the condition of the five injured were critical and referred to another hospital.
Another police official Rafiqul Islam talking to the media said they had to fire teargas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters as they entered a police station and carried out extensive vandalism.
The protesters in Chittagong were from the Hefazat-i-Islam Bangladesh, an Islamist group opposed to the visit of Modi, who critics say has been pushing a Hindu-first agenda in India.
Protests also flared in the capital Dhaka, where dozens of people, including two journalists, were injured in clashes with police, according to media reports. Modi arrived in the capital Dhaka for a two-day visit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.
Dhaka: Sheikh Rehana, the younger daughter of Bangladesh's Father of Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, receives Gandhi Peace Prize 2020 which has been conferred upon him posthumously. pic.twitter.com/xlrf5deu2o
— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2021