At least 50 people including policemen were injured in Bangladesh on Monday as Islamicist activists protested against the prosecution of their leaders on charges stemming from a war of independence 40 years ago, police and witnesses said.
Protesters set off crude explosives and threw bricks at police who tried to disperse them with teargas, batons and some shots in the air, witnesses said.
“The Islamists vandalised dozens of vehicles and set fire to two buses in Motijheel commercial area and other places in the city,” a police officer said.
Islamicist party spokesmen were not available for comment.
Police detained about 20 activists, reporters on the scene said, and the disturbances disrupted traffic on city-centre roads. Similar protests broke out in the northern town of Rajshahi and in Chittagong.
Extradition treaty
Bangladesh on Monday approved a proposedextradition treaty with India as the two countries are set to ink a crucial deal agreeing to deport wanted “criminals” hiding or lodged in each other’s jails.
“The treaty will allow transfer of the convicted and under-trial criminals,” cabinet secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said.
“The treaty will allow transfer of the convicted and under-trial criminals,” cabinet secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said.