Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters take to Dhaka streets after Friday prayers to call for boycott of French goods

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters marching through the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, chanted 'Boycott French products' and carried banners calling French President Emmanuel Macron 'the world's biggest terrorist'. 'Macron is leading Islamophobia,' said demonstrator Akramul Haq. 'He doesn't know the power of Islam. The Muslim world will not let this go in vain. We'll rise and stand in solidarity against him.' Thousands of protesters across Bangladesh vented their fury at Emmanuel Macron on Friday, some burned an effigy of the French president as anger flared over his anti-Islamic stance. Muslim worshippers came out of Friday prayers in mosques across the Bangladeshi capital and chanted: 'We are all soldiers of Prophet Mohammed'. They also called for a boycott of French goods and for Macron to be punished, with some burning the effigy of the leader. Police said 12,000 people took part in the Dhaka rally, but independent observers and organisers said there were many more. A poster of Macron was set alight in the port city of Chittagong, where authorities said another 4,000 people took part in protests. Smaller rallies were held in other towns across the Muslim-majority nation of more than 160 million people. Macron's comments have already prompted condemnations from several Muslim countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office vowed to take 'legal and diplomatic action' over the cartoon, while the country's NTV broadcaster said Ankara had summoned a senior diplomat from the French embassy. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Macron's defence of the publications a 'stupid act' and an 'insult' to those who voted for him. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday wrote to leaders of Muslim countries calling on them to act together against Islamophobia. Earlier this week, more than 40,000 took part in an anti-France demonstration in Dhaka, and the country's embassy there has been given extra security.

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters take to Dhaka streets after Friday prayers to call for boycott of French goods

Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters marching through the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, chanted "Boycott French products" and carried banners calling French President Emmanuel Macron "the world's biggest terrorist".