More than 80 people were wounded across Bangladesh on Wednesday in clashes with police sparked by the arrest of three top opposition politicians charged with insulting Islam and demands by textile workers for a pay rise. Supporters of Bangladesh's biggest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, fought with police in protest against the arrest of three of its leaders on charges of hurting Muslim religious sentiment. Clashes occurred in at least half a dozen districts, including Brahmanbaria, some 150 km east of the capital. In Dhaka, Jamaat activists scuffled with police trying to disperse them from a court compound where the arrested leaders would likely to be taken, witnesses said. Police detained 20 activists at the court compound. Jamaat-e-Islami has a large following among the country's majority, and mostly illiterate, Muslim population. But as a political party it ranks fourth after the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ex-premier Begum Khaleda Zia and the Jatiya Party led by former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad. Police arrested the three top Jamaat leaders after another religious group, the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, filed a court case in March, saying two had compared the Jamaat party chief with Prophet Mohammad. In Islam, Mohammad is beyond comparison. Police named the arrested leaders as Jamaat chief Moulana Motiur Rahman Nizami, his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and another key party leader, Moulana Delwar Hossain Saidee. Jamaat said around 25 other party members were detained in police in overnight raids in various districts. Meanwhile, police using clubs, tear gas and water cannon were also locked in street battles with textile workers demanding back pay and an immediate rise in monthly wages now equivalent to less than $24. Witnesses said at least 30 people, including 10 police, were injured. The clashes, with workers erecting street barricades, pelting police with stones and attacking cars, were the second in as many weeks involving workers producing garments for global brands and earning wages well below the poverty line. The violence took place three days after a one-day general strike called by opposition parties closed most businesses and prompted further confrontations between marchers and police.
