DHAKA – One person was killed in southwest Bangladesh Sunday as police fired on hundreds of madrassa students protesting at government moves to ensure equal property rights for women, officials said. Police said the violence occurred in Jessore, 260 kilometres (160 miles) from the capital Dhaka, after some 500 protestors, mostly madrassa students, suddenly attacked officers with sticks and stones.
“We shot rubber bullets to disperse the unruly protesters. It appears that a madrassa student has died in the violence. But we are not sure whether he died of police firing,” Jessore police chief Kamrul Ahsan told AFP.Nanda Dulal Halder, a senior nurse at the Jessore central hospital, told AFP the victim died of bullet wounds. “His body bore bullet marks,” he said.
Private news agency bdnews24 quoting witnesses said officers fired live bullets on the protesters after they clashed with police.At least dozen others including six police officers were also injured in the violence, Ahsan said, adding three officers were in serious condition after being attacked with bamboo sticks.
