More violence in Dhaka: Catholic school closed and Hindu leader arrested
After bloody clashes between students in the capital, with at least 100 injured, St. Gregory's High School & College was forced to interrupt classes due to damage to its facilities. Its principal, Br Ribeiro, calls it a “premeditated assault". The army has restored order. Meanwhile, Chinmoy Krishna Das, a Hindu community leader, was arrested for "sedition" at Dhaka airport. The NGO representing religious minorities laments “unprecedented violence”.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) – St Gregory's High School & College, a historic Catholic educational establishment in Dhaka founded in 1882. Located in the old city, it has closed its doors indefinitely after it was damaged from recent violence involving thousands of students, with at least a hundred injured, plus widespread destruction of its facilities.
At the same time, a leader of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, the cleric Chinmoy Krishna Das of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was arrested yesterday afternoon, at the capital's airport, on charges of "sedition".
These two incidents say a lot about the early days of the country’s interim government under Muhammad Yunus. After more than one hundred days, it has failed to stop a rising Islamist wave against minorities, despite several attempts at reforms.
The Nobel Prize laureate who took over the country to lead it towards democratic elections is not living up to the hopes of those who thought that the flight of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, after 15 years in power, would allow Bangladesh to really turn the page, and build a country without discrimination and inclusive of all.
On Sunday, around 5 pm, a mob of more than 500 unidentified people attacked St. Gregory's High School & College. The attackers broke through the security fence, injuring two guards, Nazmul Haque and Suman Gomes, who were hospitalised. The crowd vandalised classrooms, shattered window panes, destroyed documents, and damaged CCTV cameras, even with explosives.
Brother Placido Peter Ribeiro, the principal, expressed his dismay at the destruction. “This was a premeditated assault," he said.
He went on to praise the swift intervention of teachers, students, and law enforcement, who brought the situation under control, and call for patience and cooperation, urging all stakeholders to avoid violence.
“Restoration work, including cleaning and repairing the extensive damage, is already underway. These efforts are both urgent and time-consuming. We aim to resume normal school activities as soon as the premises are fully restored and safe for students and staff,” Br Placido added.
The attack followed a bloody feud that broke out a few days ago between students from Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College and those from Shaheed Suhrawardy and Kabi Nazrul, two government colleges, which led to an escalation of violence in Dhaka.
Clashes escalated yesterday in and around Mollah College, when more than 20,000 students faced each other for more than four hours, according to witnesses. College authorities also reported thefts during the chaos. The army and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed to restore order.
Although rumours of three dead students have circulated, police have denied any deaths.
The riot began on 18 November after Abhijit Howlader, a student at Mollah College, died at the National Medical College Hospital. Accusing hospital staff of medical negligence, students from the same school staged a protest called "Super Sunday" on 24 November, during which they vandalised the hospital and the nearby Suhrawardy College.
The incident disrupted an ongoing session at Suhrawardy College, where first-year honour students from Nazrul were taking exams. Out of revenge, students from Suhrawardy and Nazrul yesterday held “Mega Monday" counter-protest.
St. Gregory's High School & College, which is a historic educational institution in Dhaka founded in 1882 by American missionaries, was caught up in the wave of violence.
Following the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) issued a statement from India calling it "disturbing" news and demanding his immediate release.
"It is outrageous to make baseless allegations that ISKCON has anything to do with terrorism anywhere in the world. ISKCON, Inc. urges the Government of India to take immediate steps, speak to the government of Bangladesh, and convey that we are a peace-loving Bhakti movement."
The Bangladeshi police confirmed the arrest, claiming that it had acted pursuant to a specific complaint.
In Dhaka, several protesters marched and gathered at the Cheragi intersection, chanting slogans and demanding Das’s release. Several videos that went viral on social media late yesterday showed police charges.
"Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was charged with sedition after he led a massive rally of Hindus protesting targeted hate attacks and demanding protection from Islamists. Tallest leader of the Hindu community, Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari is believed to have been taken to Detective Branch of the Yunus regime," said Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Since the interim government was sworn in on 8 August under the leadership of Muhammad Yunus, the Hindu community has reported incidents of vandalism, looting, arson, land grabbing, and threats urging Hindus to leave the country.
The Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council had already sent an "open letter" to Yunus, expressing "profound sorrow and concern" for the "unprecedented violence" of a particular group against minorities.
Although Yunus and his adviser on religious affairs, A F M Khalid Hossain, said that their government believed in harmony between communities, communal violence continues to cause widespread fear, anxiety, and uncertainty among Bangladesh's minorities, especially Hindus.
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)
.png)
