Bangla Pokkho hold protest march alleging violence against Hindus in Bangladesh

Kolkata, Dec 20 (PTI) Bengali nationalist outfit Bangla Pokkho on Saturday held a protest march to the Bangladesh deputy high commission here, alleging attacks on Hindus in the neighbouring country by communal forces.

The police stopped the protesters some distance away from the Bangladesh deputy high commission office in south Kolkata, an official said.

The protesters, holding black flags, chanted slogans against communalism and right-wing forces in Bangladesh, alleging that Hindu Bengalis were being subjected to attacks there.

Various parts of Bangladesh were rocked on Thursday night by attacks and vandalism, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram, attacks on offices of leading newspapers, and vandalism at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, soon after Bangladesh's interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus confirmed prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi's death.

The interim government has said in a statement on X that seven people have been arrested in connection with the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh.

Dipu Chandra Das was lynched to death by a mob, and his body set on fire over alleged blasphemy in Mymensingh city on Thursday.

Alleging that attacks are coming down on minorities in various places of the world, Bangla Pokkho general secretary Garga Chatterjee said, "the brutal killing of Dipu Das shows that Bangladesh has turned into a violent nation." He demanded that the government of India immediately snap all trade and diplomatic ties with Bangladesh. PTI AMR RG