Police in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, deployed tear gas and sound grenades on Friday to disperse a large gathering of members from the banned militant organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir, who were attempting to march in support of replacing the country’s secular democracy with an Islamic caliphate.
Following Friday prayers, hundreds of activists, chanting “Khilafat, Khilafat,” assembled for the ‘March for Khilafat’ at the Baitul Mukarram Mosque, disregarding police barricades.
Witnesses reported that the police struggled to manage the crowd and resorted to using tear gas and sound grenades for crowd control. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police had issued warnings to banned groups the previous day, prohibiting public meetings and rallies.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir has been banned in Bangladesh since October 2009 due to concerns over national security and has consistently organized protests and marches in defiance of the government’s restrictions on public gatherings.
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The London-based organization aims to unite Muslims under a pan-Islamic state, asserting that its methods are non-violent.
Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation with a population of 170 million, is one of the largest and poorest democracies globally. The country has faced ongoing political turmoil since an interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, assumed power after protests forced then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to leave the country.
