Chaos At Bangladesh High Commission As VHP, Bajrang Dal Protesters Clash With Police

Holding saffron flags and shouting slogans against the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh, hundreds of supporters of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal broke barricades and clashed with police near the fortified Bangladesh High Commission on Tuesday.

Protesters forced several barricades down as police struggled to contain the surge.

The high security area witnessed a beefed-up police presence in the morning ahead of the protest announced by the Hindu right against the lynching of a Hindu man in the strife-torn neighbouring nation.

The area had been secured with three layers of barricades and a reinforced presence of police and paramilitary.

An officer said a 15,000-strong police force was deployed ahead of the demonstration.

He said police managed to hold the protesters about 800 metres from the high commission.

DTC buses were parked as an obstacle to thwart the protesters' bid to reach the high commission.

A sea of banners and placards bobbed in the air, reading denunciatory messages against the Bangladesh government.

A placard read: "Hindu rakt ki ek ek boond ka hisaab chahiye (Each drop of blood of a Hindu must be accounted for)."

On December 18, Dipu Chandra Das, a 25-year-old garment factory worker, was lynched by a mob and his body set on fire over blasphemy in Baluka in Mymensingh.

According to the police, Das was first beaten up by a mob outside the factory and then hanged from a tree. The crowd left the body of the deceased by the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway and later set it on fire.

"A Hindu man was brutally assaulted and killed. We request our government to take strict action against those who are behind the killing. We also demand that the Bangladesh police take strict action against those who are behind the killing," a protester said.

Another said, "We in India consider every community as our brothers and sisters. Every Hindu in every country must be treated in the same way."