Madrasa students go on rampage, storm Hathazari police station
Hundreds of madrasa students went on the rampage and stormed Hathazari Police Station in Chittagong yesterday over rumours that an imam was killed earlier in the day in clashes between police and religious militants in Dhaka.
Clashes that followed left more than 10 people, including five police, injured.
Police said students of Darul Ulum Moin Ul Islam, a local religious institution, brought out a procession at about 6:30pm protesting police action on the activists of Anti-Quranic Law Resistance Committee in Dhaka.
The procession became unruly while passing by the Hathazari Police Station as rumours spread that an imam was killed in clashes between police and religious militants in Dhaka earlier in the day.
They began raining stones on the police station.
The madrasa students later forced into the police station, ransacked all its rooms, set the doors and windows on fire, disabled telecommunications facilities and damaged four vehicles parked inside, witnesses said.
They also attacked the adjoining police barracks and torched a motorcycle there.
A police officer said the militants entered the police station all on a sudden, giving them no room to put up any resistance.
Reinforced police later baton-charged the unruly students and lobbed tear-gas canisters in a bid to disperse them.
Five cops and the imam of police station mosque were injured in the clashes. They are Sub-Inspector Mizanur Rahman, constables Abdul Haq, Bahar Uddin, Mostafa and Hamid and mosque imam Abdul Kalam.
The injured were admitted to local hospital.
The madrasa students later put up barricades on Hathazari road. According to the latest news, the militants took position on the madrasa rooftops.
Deputy Inspector General of Police of Chittagong Range Shahidul Haq and other high officials rushed to the spot.
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