Hundreds of extremist Islamists attacked a Christian school in Bangladesh on 5 November in response to locals who were outraged by rumours stating that the school, which welcomes children of all faiths, was forcing Muslim children to convert to Christianity.
The mob comprised about 200 people. The students were not physically injured, but 12 of its 14 members of staff were beaten. A female teacher endured a serious head injury. Another teacher said that he managed to run away from six Madrasa students, armed with knives and machetes, after being forced out of his classroom.
Into hiding
The furious mob’s ‘most wanted’, who is in charge of both the school and church, had his name called loudly, but the staff managed to hide him. Local officials said that they were unable to verify any truth behind the rumours of the school implementing ‘forced conversions’ that allegedly sparked the violence. The school authority filed a case against 25 people in the local police station after the incident. ‘We have arrested 17 people including three Madrasa teachers’, police officer Khandoker Rezaul Hasan said.
The attackers vandalised classrooms, destroyed the bakery and stole several items including computers and projectors. They also torched the library, burnt Bibles, hymnals and chairs; then proceeded to cut the electricity lines of the school and destroyed a generator. The vandalism lasted for about an hour and a half.
Teachers of two local madrasas stirred up the discontent by going door-to-door, stating that the school was converting the impoverished Muslim students to Christianity. They distributed leaflets stating that those who allowed their children to study at Steve Kim Mission School are not good citizens and condemned them to eternal damnation.
False allegations
Gazipur district administrative chief, Deputy Commissioner Nurul Islam said that the allegation of converting the Muslim students to Christianity in the school was false and baseless. ‘I talked to many local people and I did not find the veracity of the allegation claimed by the Madrasa teachers that the school is converting the poor students to Christianity,’ said Islam. ‘It transpired that some Madrasa teachers did not like it that Christians set up a missionary school in the locality’, added Islam. Since its inception on 1 April of this year the school has enrolled around 200 Muslim students. It provides mainstream education from the first to fourth grade.
