(1 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++PART MUTE++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chattogram, Bangladesh – 1 November 2024
1. Various aerials of Hindus during demonstration ++MUTE++ ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++
2. Wide of thousands of protesters gathered at intersection
3. Man shouting slogans into megaphone, protesters shouting slogans
4. Various of protest
5. Wide of protesters next to army personnel
6. Various of protesters shouting slogans, army and police standing next to them
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 1 November 2024
7. Members of Jatiya Party standing next to their burnt down party headquarters and protesting against attack
8. Wide of Jatiya Party news conference
9. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) G.M. Quader, Jatiya Party Chairman:
“We have filed a complaint against the attack. We have lodged verbal and written complaints with all relevant authorities. We have been assured that they are taking necessary steps to address the matter. Whether they take action or not is up to them. Like I have earlier said, the law is not functioning as it should.“
10. Various of members of Jatiya Party marching and shouting slogans
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of minority Hindus rallied Friday to demand that the interim government in Muslim-majority Bangladesh protect them from a wave of attacks and harassment and drop sedition cases against Hindu community leaders.
About 30,000 Hindus demonstrated at a major intersection in the southeastern city of Chattogram chanting slogans demanding their rights while police and soldiers guarded the area.
Other protests were reported elsewhere in the country.
Hindu groups say thousands of attacks against Hindus have happened since early August when the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and Hasina fled the country following a student-led uprising.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate named to lead an interim government after Hasina's downfall, says those figures have been exaggerated.
Hindus make up about 8% of the country's nearly 170 million people, while Muslims are about 91%.
The country’s influential minority group Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has said that there have been more than 2,000 attacks on Hindus since Aug. 4, as the interim government has struggled to restore order.
U.N. human rights officials and other rights groups have expressed concern over human rights in the country under Yunus.
Hindus and other minority communities say the interim government hasn't adequately protected them and that hardline Islamists are becoming increasingly influential since Hasina's ouster.
Friday's protest in Chattogram was hastily organized after sedition charges were filed Wednesday against 19 Hindu leaders, including prominent priest Chandan Kumar Dhar, over an Oct. 25 rally in that city. Police arrested two of the leaders, angering Hindus.
The charges stem from an incident when a group of rally-goers allegedly placed a saffron flag above the Bangladesh flag on a pillar, which was considered disrespecting the national flag.
Hindu community leaders say the cases are politically motivated and on Thursday demanded that they be withdrawn within 72 hours. Another Hindu rally has been planned for Saturday in Dhaka.
Separately, supporters of Hasina's Awami League party and its allied Jatiya Party have said they also have been targeted since Hasina's ouster. Jatiya's headquarters was vandalized and set on fire late Thursday.
On Friday, Jatiya Party Chairman G.M. Quader said his supporters would continue to hold rallies to demand their rights despite risking their lives.
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