Attack on Ctg puja mandap, half-day hartal called

The Sarbajanin Puja Udzapan Committee has announced a half-day hartal in Chattogram city on Saturday protesting the attack on a puja mandap in Andarkilla area in the port city on Friday.

Ashish Kumar Bhattacharya, president of the committee, told our local correspondent that they will observe the hartal from 6am to till 12pm.

Following the Cumilla incident, a group of protesters marched into the Andarkilla temple after Jumma prayers and vandalised it in the presence of the law enforcers, Ashish said.

Soon after the attack, the people of the Hindu community staged a sit-in-programme on street in the area. Later, Ashish announced the half-day hartal.

Nizam Uddin, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, told the correspondent that a group of protesters clashed with police that left at least 20 people injured.

Sensing danger, police fired several rounds of bullets and picked up at least 50 protesters to bring the situation under control.

A tense situation is prevailing in and around the port city following the incident, according to our correspondent.

Several religious places of the minority Hindu community were vandalised and houses attacked in Cumilla town after an alleged incident of desecration of the Holy Quran became viral on social media on Wednesday.

The incident of alleged desecration was reported from Nanuar Dighir Par Durga Mandir in Cumilla town which was posted on Facebook.