San Francisco Frontiers - Bangladeshi Hindus protest over leader's arrest, one dead

Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the spokesman of a newly-formed Hindu group leading protests calling for the protection of the minority, was arrested on Monday afternoon.

Religious relations have been turbulent in the mainly Muslim nation of 170 million people since a student-led August revolution forced long-time autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to neighbouring India.

Brahmachari, of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group, was arrested as he travelled from the capital Dhaka to Chittagong on Monday.

On Tuesday, supporters angry that bail was denied, surrounded the prison van carrying him away from court in Chittagong. Others hurled rocks.

Security forces lobbed stun grenades and launched baton charges to break the crowd, and Brahmachari was eventually taken to prison in a police pickup truck.

Nurul Alam, a police inspector posted at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said a public prosecutor had been killed, identifying him as Saiful Islam Alif, a Muslim.

"He had deep injuries on his head", said hospital director Taslim Uddin.

- 'Keep calm' -

Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over as interim leader from Hasina, condemned the murder of the lawyer and ordered an investigation.

Yunus "urged people to keep calm", vowing that the government "is committed to ensuring and upholding communal harmony in Bangladesh at any cost".

In the immediate chaotic days following Hasina's ouster, there was a string of reprisals on Hindus -- seen by some as disproportionate supporters of her regime -- as well as attacks on Muslim Sufi shrines by Islamist hardliners.

Islamist groups have been emboldened to take to the streets after years of being suppressed, and Hindu groups have rallied in counter-demonstrations.

Hindus are the largest minority faith in Bangladesh, accounting for around eight percent of the population.

The foreign ministry in neighbouring Hindu-majority India said they had "noted with deep concern" the arrest of Brahmachari.

"This incident follows the multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh", New Delhi said in a statement.

Ties between Dhaka and New Delhi have frayed, not least by India's hosting of their old ally Hasina -- wanted in Bangladesh to face charges of alleged crimes against humanity.

Hasina's 15-year tenure saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

M.Hill--SFF