The World - News from June 9, 1988

Baton-wielding police clashed with about 2,000 students who took to the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to protest a constitutional amendment making Islam the state religion. At least 10 people were injured, police said. Nationwide, lawyers supporting the protest stayed away from courts while students, who have been boycotting classes for the last three days, declared plans for more demonstrations to demand that the amendment, approved by Parliament on Tuesday, be repealed. Opposition leaders accused President Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1982, of trying to cling to power by using religion and playing on the sentiments of the people.