By Ruma Paul
COX’S BAZAR (Reuters) – At least four people were killed in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong on Friday after police fired at protesters during a demonstration against a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, police officials said.
“We had to fire teargas and rubber bullets to disperse them as they entered a police station and carried out extensive vandalism,” Rafiqul Islam, the police official told Reuters, referring to protesters.
Modi arrived in the capital Dhaka for a two-day visit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.
The protesters in Chittagong were from the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, an Islamist group opposed to the visit of Modi, who critics say has been pushing a Hindu-first agenda in India.
Mohammad Alauddin, another police official in Chittagong, said that eight people were brought to a hospital in the city with gunshot wounds, of which four succumbed to their injuries
Protests also flared in the capital Dhaka, where dozens of people, including two journalists, were injured in clashes with police, witnesses said.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul in Cox’s Bazar; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Toby Chopra)
