By: NoziaSayyed
Tuesday, April 6, 2021: Angered with the nationwide lockdown due to the rise in Coronavirus infections, many had taken to the streets protesting against the administration and even hurled bricks at the police station.
“In such protest, one of the protesters was killed and at least three others are in critical condition after police in Bangladesh opened fire on a violent protest against coronavirus restrictions,” officials said.
The incident took place on Monday in the central town of Saltha in Faridpur district, where
rumours had spread that a man at a market was injured while police were enforcing Covid-19 measures to control the increasing cases nationwide.
Thousands of people took to the streets in anger. One group even hurled bricks at a police station, vandalised government offices and torched an officer’s home and two government cars, police said.
A police spokesman said officers opened fire “in self-defence” after the station was attacked. A 20-year-old Islamic student was killed in the fire and at least seven people were injured, including three police, according to Suminur Rahman, Faridpur deputy chief of police.
Staff at state-run Faridpur Medical College Hospital said, three people with gunshot wounds
are in critical condition. “One of them was hit in his buttocks, another in his chest and the third person was shot in both legs,” Abdul Matin, a doctor at the emergency ward, told AFP.
Police said supporters of the hardline Hefazat-e-Islam group had joined the attack.
Hefazat members were involved in deadly clashes during demonstrations against a visit by
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.
Bangladesh on Monday instituted a seven-day nationwide lockdown after 7,087 people
tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, the highest daily total recorded in the South Asian nation.
All domestic buses, ferries, trains and flights have been suspended, and shops and malls have been shut. A nighttime curfew is also in effect.
Hundreds of shopkeepers in the capital, Dhaka, protested the lockdown, saying it would hurt their businesses.
