Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As many as 100,000 people defied Bangladesh’s coronavirus lockdown to attend the funeral of a leading Islamic cleric on Saturday.
The authorities there have said the enormous throng gathered in the Brahmanbaria district, about 60km east of the capital Dhaka, despite a ban on gatherings of more of five people to slow the spread of Covid-19.
They came to mark the death of Maulana Jubayer Ahmed Ansari, a popular figure in Bangladesh’s Islamist party, who died on Friday aged 56.
Tens of thousands walked miles, reportedly blocking the motorways, to pay their respects, defying the government’s advice to stay home and avoid other people.
In response to the funeral crowds, Bangladesh’s government has tightened its clampdown on seven villages in the district.
“We’ve strictly ordered all residents of the seven villages to stay at home at all times at least for the next 14 days so we can identify if anyone contracted the virus following Saturday’s gathering,” a local police officer told the Reuters news agency.
Although the nation has only so far identified 101 deaths from coronavirus and just 2,948 cases, this is thought to be a significant under-estimate because of a lack of testing capacity and poor healthcare infrastructure.
Nasima Sultana, a senior official in the Directorate General of Health Services, said 492 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest such figure in a single day since the virus first arrived in Bangladesh last month.
Many experts fear coronavirus could wreak havoc in the densely-populated nation of 160 million people. Despite the government imposing a lockdown along with much of the rest of the world, it has been widely flouting, raising the chances of widespread transmission of the disease within Bangladesh.
The local police force in Brahmanbaria had not expected such large crowds for the funeral of Ansari and were reportedly unable to prevent the hordes of people from descending upon the madrassa where the cleric was due to be buried.
According to a spokesman for the national police authorities, two local officers have been removed from their duties while a committee investigate how such a huge breach of the lockdown was able to take place.
Despite pleas from the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, many Bangladeshis are continuing to attend Friday prayers and other services at mosques.
Officials warned the start of month of fasting of Ramadan later this week will place even greater strain on the country’s fraying lockdown. The holy month normally sees more worshippers than usual gather at mosques.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments