Bangladeshis protest outside UK parliament over communal violence during Durga Puja

Hundreds of Bangladeshi Hindus joined Indian Bengali Hindus outside the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament on Wednesday to urge that the British government put pressure on Bangladesh to address recent communal violence against Hindu minority communities.

Protesters travelled to London from all around the UK, including Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Wales, and Scotland, reports The Times of India.

Outside the House of Commons they shouted "Stop Killing Hindus" and "We want justice" and held placards saying "Stop ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh".

"There are a significant number of Bangladeshi Hindus living in the UK and we want British MPs to know what is happening in Bangladesh. We want the UK Foreign Office to put pressure on the Bangladesh government to take action," explained Himanish Goswami, youth ambassador for the Bangladeshi Hindu Association (UK).

The protesters went in front of the BBC headquarters and demanded the media giant cover the anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh and questioned why it hasn't so far, shouting "Bias BBBC", holding placards saying: "We demand the BBC and world media investigate and report on the ongoing atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh."

Rumy Haque, a Bangladesh-born Muslim who joined the protest told TOI, "It happens every year. It is being done by Islamist extremists who want Bangladesh to be a Muslim country. I think it must be funded by Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. There are preachers in Bangladesh radicalising youngsters. It is an attempt at ethnic cleansing. They want to get rid of all the minorities. The majority of Muslims in Bangladesh don't support it but they are too scared to speak out."

Kolkata-born Bikram Banerjee, from Bengali Hindu Adarsha Sangha UK (BHAS UK), which represents Bengali Hindus in Britain, said, "The BBC is suspiciously quiet, not saying anything about the human rights violations happening in Bangladesh. But we are British taxpayers. Hindu lives matter. We hope they will fulfil their (responsibility) as a news broadcaster."

Bangladesh-born Proshanta Purokayastha, chairman of BHAS UK, said, "This has been going on since 1946, the administration is not taking any action so we want the UK government to put pressure on Bangladesh and create dialogue and stop the violence."

Shatta Bhowmick, a Bangladeshi-origin Briton, said, "It is a daily thing when we go to the temple in Bangladesh, they spit on us and they always want to convert us to Islam. As a woman, you have to dress modestly. My family there has not been able to go out since the violence. The government shut down the Internet to hide what is happening. I have hope the British government can influence Bangladesh."

Biplab Roy Chowdhury, who fled aged five months to India after his father was killed in 1973 in Bangladesh, told TOI, "Where there used to be whole villages of Hindus, now there are just three or four houses."

More than 150 British Indian organisations have signed a letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on the British government to condemn the violence. They also urged the government to ask the Bangladeshi government to protect Hindu minorities, bring the perpetrators to justice, restore Hindu temples, and use its influence to ensure Bangladesh abides by its human rights commitments.

In the House of Commons, Conservative MP Bob Blackman has presented two early day motions denouncing the violence.

On 13 October, a copy of the Holy Quran was found at a Puja Mandap in Cumilla. This triggered a spate of communal attacks on puja mandaps and temples. Since then, around 250 attacks took place in 22 districts across the country claiming seven lives.

A large number of temples and houses of the minority community fell victim to communal atrocities.