“Third day of clashes in Bangladash over Koran ‘desecration,'” AFP, October 15, 2021:

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at thousands of protesters in Bangladesh’s two main cities on Friday, in a third day of religious disturbances in the Muslim-majority nation, authorities said.

The protests began on Wednesday after footage emerged of a Koran being placed on the knee of a god during celebrations for the Hindu festival of Durga Puja. Hindus make up 10 percent of the population.

At least four people were killed late Wednesday when police opened fire on a crowd of around 500 people attacking a Hindu temple in Hajiganj, one of several towns hit by the disturbances.

Two Hindus were also killed and some 150 others were injured across the country, community leader Gobinda Chandra Pramanik told AFP, with at least 80 makeshift temples attacked. Authorities did not confirm the toll.

On Friday up to 2,500 Muslim worshippers gathered outside Baitul Mukarram Masjid, Bangladesh’s largest mosque in central Dhaka, demanding “exemplary punishment” for the “desecration” of the Islamic holy book.