22 dead as Bangladesh Islamists demand blasphemy law // Rioting Islamists end up burning Islamic bookstores

Dhaka: At least 22 people were killed as Bangladeshi police fought pitch battles with tens of thousands of hardline Islamists in the capital Dhaka, police and medical officials said on Monday. Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman said police used sound grenades, water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse at least 70,000 Islamists who were camped at a key commercial district in a push for a new blasphemy law.

"We were forced to act after they unlawfully continued their gathering at Motijheel. They attacked us with bricks, stones, rods and bamboo sticks," he told AFP, adding that the protesters had dispersed early Monday morning. Police inspector Mozammel Haq at Dhaka Medical College Hospital told AFP 11 bodies were taken to the clinic including several who were hit by bullets and a policeman who had been hacked in the head by protesters with machetes. Eleven other bodies were taken to three clinics including four at Al Baraka and seven at two branches of Islami Bank hospitals which are based close to the trouble spots. Hospital officials said hundreds of people were injured. The violence erupted Sunday afternoon and continued through until the early hours of Monday morning.

It came after hundreds of thousands of Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law on Sunday blocked highways and fought running battles with police, leaving 10 people dead and hundreds injured in the Bangladeshi capital. Chanting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greatest!") and "One point, One demand: Atheists must be hanged", activists from the hardline Hefajat-e-Islam marched along at least six highways, blocking transport between Dhaka and other cities. Police said about 200,000 people had marched to central Dhaka, where fierce clashes erupted between thousands of rock-throwing protesters and security officials, with police beating back demonstrators with batons.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/22-dead-as-bangladesh-islamists-demand-blasphemy-law-363160?pfrom=home-otherstories

Islamic book shops burnt
Hefajat-e Islam activists, teamed up with Jamaat-Shibir men, set ablaze dozens of shops selling Islamic books — among many other makeshift stalls — on footpaths around Baitul Mukarram Mosque yesterday evening. “They are enemies of Allah! They are enemies of the Prophet! How can they set the Holy Qur’an on fire?” cried a bookshop owner trying to douse the blaze after the attackers left the scene.  The attackers set fire to everything they could by the roadside between Purana Paltan intersection and Dainik Bangla intersection. They put up concrete obstructions to bar the law enforcers from reaching the scene.

Firefighters, with the help of the police, brought the flames under control around 9:00pm, when shop owners frantically rushed back to salvage the remains of their livelihoods. Police, taking position at Purana Paltan intersection, repeatedly fired rubber bullets as the demonstrators attempted to advance and attack them. Even though the vendors were frightened, they remained there to save their belongings — despite whatever consequences might have befallen them. “I will not leave my shop even if I am shot dead,” said Abdul Moin, who was selling T-shirts at the entry point of the north side of the mosque. His business has been well enough to run his family for the past 17 years, and the shop contained goods worth around Tk 1 lakh. “The shop is my only resort. My family depends on it. Everything will be finished if it is set on fire,” he said in a choked voice. More than one hundred vendors like Moin were desperately trying to save their sole belongings from the onslaught of violence. Shafique, a bags vendor, repeatedly requested the Hefajat men not to damage his shop. “It is my only livelihood. Hurt me but please spare my stall,” he pleaded a group of Hefajat men attacking his shop. They took his wooden stools and torched them.
Just after the clash, the attackers went berserk and torched more than 30 vehicles. They turned more violent in the evening as they vandalised, torched and pillaged the roadside stalls from Paltan to Dainik Bangla, Bijoynagar to Nightingale Mor and GPO to Stadium Market areas.
http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/islamic-book-shops-burnt/