DHAKA (AFP) — About 100 people were injured Friday as thousands of Islamists fought for hours with police in the Bangladesh capital over equal rights for women, police and officials said.
The roads in front of Dhaka's main mosque became a battleground as about 5,000 men armed with bamboo sticks and bricks clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and batons, deputy police commissioner Mazharul Islam said.
"They attacked the policemen with bricks and sticks immediately after the weekly Friday prayers. We shot tear gas shells and baton-charged the unruly activists," Islam said, adding that dozens were injured.
At least 40 policemen were injured as the protesters threw bricks and stones like "heavy rainfall," at the helmeted force, Islam said.
More than 50 people, mainly members of Islamic parties, were also injured and were treated in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said senior nurse Harunur Rashid.
Witnesses said 200 were injured, including five photo-journalists as police fired more than 100 tear gas canisters, some inside the country's biggest mosque complex called Baitul Mukarram, during the three-hour skirmish.
Police said the activists belonging to the Committee to Resist Anti-Koran Laws, a coalition of Islamic parties, started the clashes by chasing police.
The protests were against a women's development policy adopted in March by the government, advocating equal property rights for women.
Dozens were injured in similar clashes on Thursday.
Muslim clerics and parties have warned of nationwide demonstrations, saying they will not tolerate any laws that contradict sharia, or the Islamic legal code.
Soon after the new policy was announced, the government backed down, explaining it had not been passed into law. No legislation would be passed "that goes against the Koran and the traditions of Prophet Mohammed," the government said.
Bangladesh, whose population is 90 percent Muslim, has a secular legal system but in matters related to inheritance and marriage Muslims follow sharia.
This generally stipulates that a girl inherits half of what her brother gets. Women's groups have long protested against the disparity and demanded equal rights.
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