Hundreds of people demonstrated outside a key mosque in the Bangladesh capital on Saturday, as the country braces for violence a day after deadly protests by hardline Islamists against a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The clashes, which began on Friday at the main mosque in the capital Dhaka, spread to several key districts in the the Muslim majority nation of 168 million, leaving five people dead and scores injured.
Facebook has been restricted in the country, a company spokesman said, after users complained they could not access the site since late Friday afternoon as images and reports of the violence were shared in social media.
A spokesman for the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), which also acts as a reserve paramilitary force to maintain law and order, said it had deployed troops in parts of the country since Friday night.
“With the instructions of the home ministry and in aid of the civil administration, the required number of BGB has been deployed in different districts of the country,” Lieutenant Colonel Fayzur Rahman said.
But defying the security measures, hundreds of Islamists gathered at the Baitul Mukarram Masjid to protests police shooting at protesters and Mr. Modi’s tour to the Muslim majority country.
