Anger erupts in Bangladesh and India as thousands protest over comments about Islam

Thousands of people marched in Bangladesh’s capital and in parts of India on Friday to urge Muslim-majority nations to cut ties with India and boycott its products unless it punishes two governing party officials for comments deemed derogatory to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

The protesters in Dhaka also criticised the country’s government for not publicly criticising the comments made last week by two officials in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party.

One official has been suspended and the other expelled after the BJP denounced insults of religious figures, but protesters in Bangladesh and India said the actions were not enough. They marched after Friday prayers through streets near the main Baitul Mukarram Mosque in downtown Dhaka. Many chanted slogans against Modi.

“The global Muslim community has been united. We ask the whole world to boycott Indian products,” said Moulana Imtiaz Alam, leader of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, a platform of various Islamist parties that support the introduction of Islamic law in the country. Alam called for the two Indian officials to be arrested and punished.

Protesters hurled rocks at police in several towns and cities and police used wooden batons and tear gas to disperse the protests in Hyderabad, Saharanpur, Prayagraj, Moradabad and Kanpur. Some of the demonstrators hurled rocks at security forces from rooftops, TV images showed.