DHAKA – Hundreds of people in a Bangladeshi town yesterday beat and lynched a man who allegedly desecrated Muslims’ holy book, said police.
The crowd seized two men who were placed in official custody after being accused of stepping on a Quran in the main mosque of Burimari, near the frontier with India, said cops.
The second man escaped with injuries.
“They beat one man to death and then burned the body,” district police chief Abida Sultana told AFP.
Police took the two men into protective custody in a municipal office after the allegations were made by worshippers at Burimari Jame Mosque.
They said more 1,000 people stormed the council office, and police fired 17 live shotgun rounds in a bid to calm the crowd but could not stop them from seizing the 35-year-old man.
The victim was beaten to death before the crowd torched the office and burned the body in the street.
The incident came amid mounting anger in the Muslim-majority country over comments on Islam made by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Tens of thousands of people took part in anti-French rallies this week in the capital, Dhaka, and the port city of Chittagong.
More demonstrations have been called after Friday prayers today. – AFP, October 30, 2020
