DHAKA — Tens of thousands of minority Hindus rallied on Friday to demand Muslim-majority Bangladesh's interim government to protect them from a wave of attacks and harassment and drop sedition cases against Hindu community leaders.
About 30,000 Hindus demonstrated at a major intersection in the southeastern city of Chattogram, chanting slogans demanding their rights while police and soldiers guarded the area. Other protests were reported elsewhere in the South Asian country.
Hindu groups say there have been thousands of attacks against Hindus since early August, when the secular government of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and she fled the country following a student-led uprising.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate named to lead an interim government after Hasina's downfall, says those figures have been exaggerated.
Hindus make up about 8 percent of the country's nearly 170 million people, while Muslims are about 91 percent.
The country's influential minority group Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has said there have been more than 2,000 attacks on Hindus since Aug. 4, as the interim government has struggled to restore order.
United Nations human rights officials and other rights groups have expressed concern over human rights in the country under Yunus.
Hindus and other minority communities say the interim government hasn't adequately protected them and that hardline Islamists are becoming increasingly influential since Hasina's ouster.
The issue has reached beyond Bangladesh, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over reports of attacks.
While the administration of United States President Joe Biden has said it is monitoring Bangladesh's human rights issues since Hasina's ouster, his one-time election foe Donald Trump has condemned what he described as "barbaric" violence against Hindus, Christians and other minorities in the country.
In a post on X.com, the Republican presidential candidate said: "I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos."
Hindu activists have been staging protest rallies in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere since August to press a set of eight demands. These include a law to protect minorities, a ministry for minorities, and a tribunal to prosecute acts of oppression against them. They also seek a five-day holiday for their largest festival, the Durga Puja.
Friday's protest in Chattogram was hastily organized after sedition charges were filed on Wednesday against 19 Hindu leaders, including prominent priest Chandan Kumar Dhar, over an Oct. 25 rally in that city. Police arrested two of the leaders, angering Hindus.
The charges stem from an event in which a group of rallyists allegedly placed a saffron flag above Bangladesh's flag on a pillar, which was considered disrespecting the national flag.
Hindu community leaders say the cases are politically motivated and demanded on Thursday that they be withdrawn within 72 hours.
Separately, supporters of Hasina's Awami League party and its allied Jatiya Party said they had also been targeted since Hasina's ouster. Jatiya's headquarters was vandalized and set on fire on Thursday night.
On Friday, Jatiya Party Chairman G.M. Quader said his supporters would continue to hold rallies to demand their rights despite risking their lives.
Later in the day, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police announced it was banning rallies near the Jatiya Party's headquarters. Hours after the police decision, the party said it postponed their rally to show respect to the law, and a new date for the rally would be announced soon.
The police decision came after a student group strongly criticized the police administration for initially granting permission for the rally, and threatened to block it.