Bangladesh Protest Turns Violent, 3 Shot: Police

The incident took place in the central town of Saltha in Faridpur district, where police said rumours had spread that a man was injured in a police sweep at a market aimed at enforcing health measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

A protest over police enforcement of coronavirus restrictions in rural Bangladesh turned violent late Monday when a mob of demonstrators attacked a police station, with at least three people shot, police and a doctor said. The incident took place in the central town of Saltha in Faridpur district, where police said rumours had spread that a man was injured in a police sweep at a market aimed at enforcing health measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, as cases spike nationwide. Thousands of villagers took to the streets in anger. A group of them hurled bricks at a police station and vandalised government offices in the town, torching an officer's home and two cars belonging to government officials, police said. "Police fired in self-defence after they attacked the police station," a police spokesman in Faridpur district told AFP. A second police official, inspector Nur-a-Alam Fakir, confirmed the incident.