Two rival Bangladeshi groups have reportedly locked into a clash over the war crimes issues while placing flowers at the Shaheed Minar in Altab Ali Park of East London early Friday.
Metal barricades have been used as makeshift weapons during the pitched battle in the park, with women and children caught in the middle, reported eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk.
Later, police broke up the fighting and cleared everyone out of the park, but it is believed that no arrests were made.
According to the report, hundreds had gathered in the park at midnight to place flowers at the Shaheed Minar. But flowers gave way to fists as the night turned violent after a war of words between rival groups over war crimes trials in Bangladesh.
Ajanta Deb Roy, an activist and radio presenter for Radio Betar Bangla, said the fighting started when one group took issue with the slogans being chanted by the other group.
She said: “They were calling for the death penalty for war criminals, and the others didn’t like it, so they started throwing threatening words.
“First it was verbal, and then they started attacking, and when they did the others fought back.”
Roy said the clashes lasted three or four minutes before police intervened.
Tensions have been bubbling in the East End over the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh, which is trying men accused of war crimes during the country’s 1971 liberation war.
