Thousands of angry Islamist men marched Saturday across the streets of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to protest against proposals guaranteeing equal rights for women in the Muslim-majority country.
“Men and women can never be equal: the Koran outlines specific codes of life for both genders,” protester Mohammad Shihab Uddin, 53, told AFP. He is leader of a women’s madrassa, a religious school.
“There is no way we can go beyond that.”
AP reports leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam group said the proposed legal reforms – ensuring a range of freedoms for women – are contradictory to Sharia law and an affront to Islam.
More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near the Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.”
Hellbound and Down 