Clashes in Tahirpur upazila lasted about two hours. Prothom Alo reported that the dispute began after a cricket ball hit an electric rickshaw.
A dispute among residents of several villages in Sunamganj district escalated into clashes involving brick-throwing. The confrontation in Madhya Tahirpur lasted from noon until about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Prothom Alo reported. At least 30 people were injured, and three were taken to the district hospital.
The dispute began a week earlier during a cricket game, when a ball struck the front windshield of an electric rickshaw travelling on the Sunamganj-Tahirpur road. An argument followed between the driver from Madhya Tahirpur and a teenager from Birnagar. The next day, two Madhya Tahirpur residents beat a young man from Birnagar at Tahirpur market.
On Tuesday evening, young men from the two villages fought again at the market. Later, a mosque loudspeaker in Birnagar called on people to come to a field the next morning “with whatever they had.” A video of the announcement circulated on social media. Police arrived overnight and tried to calm both sides, but residents gathered again in the morning.
Tahirpur police station chief Faruk Ahmad told Prothom Alo that 30 to 40 people were injured by bricks. Police remained at the scene. Billal Hossain, a Madhya Tahirpur resident, told the paper local political leaders could have settled the dispute if they had intervened in time.