At least 50 people were injured and 30 others arrested on Wednesday when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to quell more than 1,000 Bangladeshi Islamic activists during an anti-Israel protest.
Witnesses said protestors from the Islami Constitutional Movement (ICM) had tried to march to the United Nations offices in Agargaon area after a brief rally in downtown Dhaka.
Police stopped them but they pushed through about one kilometer (about half a mile). Police then fired tear gas and rubber bullets creating chaos on a major Dhaka road.
The turbaned activists beat police, who retaliated with batons.
Protestors also torched Israeli and American flags and damaged passing vehicles, witnesses said.
Police said they were forced into action as the ICM had changed their allowed route, opting for a major street.
At least 30 activists, many shouting "Allahu Akber" or "God is Great" along with anti-US and anti-UN slogans, were detained on charges of endangering public safety, they added.
The ICM, which staged a smaller protest a week ago, was earlier scheduled to deliver a memorandum to the UN protesting alleged Israeli atrocities against their "Palestinian brothers" in the Middle East.
The Dhaka government has strongly condemned the alleged attacks launched by Israeli forces on unarmed Palestinians.
"These dastardly attacks are reprehensible and must be stopped forthwith," a foreign ministry spokesman said as the violence erupted in Ramallah and Gaza City.
Bangladesh also urged the international community to do all it could to put the peace process back on the rails, immediately – DHAKA (AFP)
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