Summary At least 10 people were killed in clashes between Islamists and police in Bangladesh.
DHAKA (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law on Sunday blocked highways and fought running battles with police, leaving 10 people dead and hundreds injured in the Bangladeshi capital.
Chanting "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greatest!") and "One point, One demand: Atheists must be hanged", activists from the hardline Hefajat-e-Islam marched along at least six highways, blocking transport between Dhaka and other cities.
Police said about 200,000 people had marched to central Dhaka, where fierce clashes erupted between thousands of rock-throwing protesters and security officials, with police beating back demonstrators with batons.
"At least 100,000 protesters," blocked the road at Tongi town, which connects Dhaka with the northern region, local police chief Ismail Hossain told AFP.
Witnesses said rioting broke out after police tried to intercept stick-wielding protesters, most travelling from remote villages, in front of the country s largest mosque. Trouble then spread to central districts of Dhaka.
Police inspector Mozammel Haq said three dead were brought to Dhaka Medical College and seven others taken to two private clinics including six at the Al Baraka Hospital.
"All six have bullet wounds in their heads," Al Baraka administrative officer Shahjahan Siraj told AFP by telephone.
Police would only say rubber bullets were used in the clashes, but witnesses and local media said hundreds of live rounds were fired by security forces to disperse the rampaging Islamists, who torched a police station, scores of vehicles and shops.
Dozens of small bombs exploded, leaving smoke hanging in the air around the mosque as clashes continued late Sunday night.
One policeman suffered serious head injuries after he was beaten by protesters, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
M. Adnan, an emergency doctor at Islami Bank Hospital, told AFP nearly 300 protesters were treated in its two branches.
A senior police officer who declined to be named told AFP between "150,000 and 200,000 demonstrators" marched to Motijheel, Dhaka s main commercial district, where they continued to rally even after midnight.
"This government does not have faith in Allah. This is an atheist government, we will not allow them to live in Bangladesh. Muslims are brothers, we must protect Islam," one protester was seen chanting.
The protest was staged as the country was recovering from its worst industrial disaster, which saw at least 620 people killed when a factory building collapsed just outside the capital on April 24.
Hefajat, a newly created radical Islamist group, is demanding the death penalty for those who defame Islam.
