At least four people have died in
Bangladesh in clashes between police and Islamist protesters who took to the
streets accusing bloggers of blasphemy. Dozens more were reported injured.
Some were calling for the execution
of the bloggers, whom they accuse of insulting Islam.
Last week, blogger Ahmed Rajib
Haider was killed outside his home.
The protests come days after
authorities blocked some websites for "hurting religious feelings".
In the capital, Dhaka, thousands of
protesters from an alliance of Islamic parties went on a protest rally soon
after Friday prayers in the country's national mosque.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear
gas to disperse protesters who threw stones and vandalised buildings, the BBC's
Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from Dhaka.
Similar violent clashes were
reported across the country. In some places, there were clashes between
supporters of the ruling Awami League and Islamist activists, our correspondent
reports.
Following Mr Haider's death last
week a series of blog posts described as anti-Islamic have circulated, but
their authorship was not immediately clear.
Strike call
The clashes come amid renewed
tension over a tribunal judging war crimes committed during the 1971 independence
war.
Last week, Bangladesh's parliament
amended a law which will allow the state to appeal against the life sentence
given by the tribunal to an Islamist party leader.
In recent weeks a group of bloggers,
including Mr Haider, had launched mass protests demanding his execution and a
ban on the country's largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Islamist parties have called for a
nationwide general strike on Sunday in protest at the killing of their
supporters in recent clashes.
The Islamist party denies being
involved in war crimes and says the tribunal is part of a government vendetta
against the party.
Human rights groups have said the
tribunal falls short of international standards.
Official estimates say more than
three million people were killed in the 1971 war which resulted in independence
from Pakistan.
Source : BBC
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