Students from local religious school vandalise venue set to host women’s match, a day after another such incident in another city.
In Bangladesh, protests from students of a traditional religious school led to the cancellation of a women’s football match after the venue was heavily damaged, this being the second such incident in a span of as many days.
The friendly match on Wednesday was to be hosted in the northwestern city of Joypurhat between its district women’s football team and another from nearby Rangpur, but the venue and assets were damaged, according to local organizers.
According to tournament organizer Samiul Hasan Emon, “Islamists in our area gathered in a field and marched toward the venue. There were hundreds of them.”
“The situation got out of hand, so we had to cancel the event today.”
Abu Bakkar Siddique, headmaster of a local religious school, said he joined his students and teachers in the protest alongside others from religious institutions.
Girls’ football is un-Islamic,” he said, “our religious duty is to oppose anything that is against our religious beliefs.”
The incident was preceded by Tuesday’s match in the neighboring city of Dinajpur, postponed after another demonstration with sticks.
Local government officer Amit Roy said four were injured in the clashes after the protesters and counterdemonstrators pelted each other with bricks, but all have since been released.