22 Dead as Tens of Thousands of Devout Muslims Violently Protest for Death Penalty for Blasphemy

^{Photo: “Islamic activists” (right) block a road in Dhaka (AP)}

They want the sharia and they mean to get it using the brutality and violence inherent ….in the sharia. Protesters hacked the police with machetes.

Islamist unrest in Dhaka kill 22 The Telegraph, May 6, 2013

At least 22 people have been killed as Bangladeshi police fought
pitch battles with tens of thousands of hardline Islamists in the
capital Dhaka

Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman said police used sound grenades, water
cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse at least 70,000 Islamists
who were camped at a key commercial district in a push for a new blasphemy
law.

“We were forced to act after they unlawfully continued their gathering at
Motijheel. They attacked us with bricks, stones, rods and bamboo sticks,”
he said, adding that the protesters had dispersed early Monday morning.

Police inspector Mozammel Haq at Dhaka Medical College Hospital said 11 bodies
were taken to the clinic including several who were hit by bullets and a
policeman who had been hacked in the head by protesters with machetes.

Eleven other bodies were taken to three clinics including four at Al Baraka
and seven at two branches of Islami Bank hospitals which are based close to
the trouble spots.

Hospital officials said hundreds of people were injured.

The violence erupted on Sunday afternoon and continued through until the early
hours of Monday morning.

It came after hundreds of thousands of Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law
on Sunday blocked highways and fought running battles with police, leaving
10 people dead and hundreds injured in the Bangladeshi
capital.

^{Supporters of Hefajat-e Islam shout slogans as they attend a rally at
Paltan in Dhaka (EPA)}

Chanting “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is greatest!”) and “One
point, One demand: Atheists must be hanged”, activists from the
hardline Hefajat-e-Islam marched along at least six highways, blocking
transport between Dhaka and other cities.

Police said about 200,000 people had marched to central Dhaka, where fierce
clashes erupted between thousands of rock-throwing protesters and security
officials, with police beating back demonstrators with batons.