As many as 20,000 Islamist protesters took to the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Saturday to protest a set of proposed legislative changes that would have seen equal rights laws installed for women, according to international media reports.
The proposed laws would have seen a ban on polygamy, the criminalization of marital rape, the insurace equal parental rights for women, equal inheritance rights for women and the legal recognition of sex workers as laborers.
Many of those demonstrating held placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.” Other protesters claimed “men and women can never be equal,” according to Human Rights Watch.
Hefazet-e-Islam
The protest was mainly organized for the Hefazet-e-Islam group, which has spoken out strongly against the proposed changes.
The group also demanded that the government abolish the country’s women’s commission, which seeks equality, AFP reported while sharing footage of the demonstration. Many of those attending carried Palestinian flags.
Muhammad Mamunul Haque, a leader of Hefazat-e-Islam, claimed some of the recommendations proposed by Bangladesh’s interim government hurt "the sentiments of the majority of the people of this country" by labeling religious laws of inheritance as the cause of inequality between the sexes.
"We are pretty confident about entering the parliament in the next election," Haque told AFP in an interview.