The alleged blasphemer has been duly arrested. The response of authorities the world over to riots of this kind is call for or place restrictions upon the freedom of speech, not to try to educate the rioters to accept the fact that there will always be people who disagree with them, and hence points of view they simply have to put up with. By not trying to explain this to the rioters, authorities are only reinforcing their assumption that they must gain hegemony over all others and forcibly silence all dissent.
“Four killed as police fire on blasphemy protesters,” AFP, October 20, 2019:
At least four people were killed and nearly 50 injured on Sunday after police fired on thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims protesting a Facebook post by a Hindu who allegedly defamed Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), officials said.
Mob attacks over Facebook posts perceived to be blasphemous have emerged as a major headache for security forces in Bangladesh, where Muslims make up some 90 per cent of the country’s 168 million people.
Some 20,000 Muslims demonstrated at a prayer ground in Borhanuddin town on the country’s largest island of Bhola to call for the execution of the young Hindu man, who was arrested Saturday over charges of inciting religious tension.
Police said they opened fire in self-defence after some of the crowd threw rocks at their officers.
“At least four people were killed and up to 50 people were injured,” police inspector Salahuddin Mia told AFP….