HOLDING saffron flags and shouting slogans against the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh, hundreds of supporters of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal broke barricades and clashed with police near the fortified Bangladesh High Commission on Tuesday. Several barricades lay in disarray as police struggled to contain the surge. The high security area witnessed a beefed-up police presence in the morning ahead of the protest announced by the Hindu right against the lynching of a Hindu man in the strifetorn neighbouring nation.

 

The area had been secured with seven layers of barricades and a reinforced presence of police and paramilitary. An officer said a 1,500-strong police force was deployed ahead of the demonstration. He said police managed to hold the protesters about 800 metres from the high commission. DTC buses were parked as an obstacle to thwart the protesters’ bid to reach the high commission. A sea of banners and placards bobbed in the air, reading denunciatory messages against the Bangladesh government. A placard read: “Hindu rakt ki ek ek boond ka hisaab chahiye (Each drop of blood of a Hindu must be accounted for).”

 

On December 18, Dipu Chandra Das,a25- year-old garment factory worker, was lynched by a mob and his body set on fire over blasphemy in Baluka in Mymensingh. According to the police, Das was first beaten by a mob outside the factory and then hanged from a tree. The crowd left the body by the DhakaMymensingh Highway and later set it on fire. “A Hindu man was brutally assaulted and killed.We request the Government to take strict action against those who are behind the killing. Wealsodemand that theBangladeshpolice take strict action against those who are behind the killing,” a protester said.

 

Another said, “We in India consider every community as our brothers and sisters. Every Hindu in every country must be treated in the same way.” PROTESTS HELD IN JAMMU, RAJOURI: The Jammu andKashmirHighCourtBarAssociation on Tuesday protested the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to either bring Hindus to India or ensure theirprotection there.Thelawyersalso demanded thatillegalBangladeshiandRohingya immigrants be evicted from Jammu.

 

PRO-HINDUTVA SUPPORTERS MARCH TO DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSION: Hundreds of supporters of a pro-Hindutva outfit, protesting the alleged attack on minorities in the neighbouringnation, tried tomarch to theBangladesh DeputyHighCommissionhereonTuesdayafternoon and clashed with the police when they were stopped by the personnel in uniform. Police resorted to baton charge to disperse the protestors after they breached barricades, bothhumanandironguardrails,in theirattempts to move closer to the Deputy HighCommission office at Beckbagan in central Kolkata.