Bangladesh police use tear gas to disperse Islamist march in Dhaka

DHAKA - Police in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka used tear gas and sound grenades on March 7 to disperse hundreds of members of the banned militant group Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeking to march to demand the country’s secular democracy be replaced by an Islamic caliphate.

Hundreds of activists chanting “Khilafat, Khilafat” gathered for the “March for Khilafat” procession at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque after Friday prayers, defying police barricades.

Police were unable to control the crowd and had to use tear gas and sound grenades to disperse them, witnesses said.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had warned banned organisations on March 6 against holding public meetings and rallies.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir, banned in Bangladesh since October 2009 for posing a threat to national security, has frequently organised protests and marches in defiance of a government ban on public gatherings.

The London-based Hizb-ut-Tahrir seeks to unite Muslims in a pan-Islamic state but says its means are peaceful.

The Muslim-majority country of 170 million people is one of the world’s largest and poorest democracies.

It has been grappling with political unrest since an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, took over, following protests that drove then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country. REUTERS

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