Islamist activists and leaders have staged demonstrations in Dhaka and demanded the government sever diplomatic relations with France protesting against its exposition of the caricature of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
They came up with the demand at a rally organized by Islami Andolan Bangladesh on Tuesday, reports Bangla Tribune.
Several hundred activists and leaders of the party joined the rally at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque before their march towards the French Embassy located in the Gulshan diplomatic area to lay siege to it.
In his speech, Islami Andolan's Ameer and Charmonair Peer Maulana Syed Rezaul Karim demanded that the government of Bangladesh place a bill in the parliament to condemn the French government.
Moreover, a law incorporating severe punishment must be passed to stop insulting Islam and the prophet in Bangladesh, he added.
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In their demonstrations, the protesters urged all to boycott French products.
After the rally, the demonstrators marched towards the French Embassy, but police intercepted them in the Shantinagar area ,putting barricades on the road.
Gulshan police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abul Hassan told Dhaka Tribune that the marchers ended their demonstrations at Shantinagar.
Islami Andolan Bangladesh holds a rally at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka before their march towards the French Embassy in Gulshan to lay siege to the embassy on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 | Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka TribuneOf late, protests erupted in Muslim-majority countries in the world along with calls to boycott French goods, after President Emmanuel Macron criticized Islamists and vowed not to "give up cartoons" depicting the prophet.
Macron's comments, on Wednesday, came in response to the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, outside his school in a suburb outside Paris earlier this month, after he had shown cartoons of the prophet during a class he was leading on free speech, reports AFP.
Macron said the teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future."
The teacher became the target of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material -- the same images that unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the original publisher, in January 2015.
Also Read - Imran Khan accuses Macron of attacking Islam
Caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are forbidden by Islam.
On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the French president of "attacking Islam," after the European leader criticized Islamists and defended the publication of the prophet's cartoons.
"By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world," he said in a tweet.
