Activists call for death of writer

Dhaka - Bangladeshi police yesterday fought running battles with rock-throwing Islamist activists demanding death for the feminist…

Dhaka - Bangladeshi police yesterday fought running battles with rock-throwing Islamist activists demanding death for the feminist writer, Ms Taslima Nasreen, witnesses said.

The clashes broke out after supporters of Islamic Oikkyo Jote, an alliance of radical Muslim groups, tried to break through a police cordon near the government Secretariat.

Jote activists said they were trying to storm the Home Ministry in protest against the "deliberate failure" of police to arrest Ms Nasreen, who went into hiding after returning home on September 14th following four years of self-imposed exile.