100,000 Turn Out for Funeral in Bangladesh, Defying Stay-at-Home Order

Muslim devotees attend a funeral prayer for an Islamic preacher during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against COVID-19, in Brahmanbaria also known as Sarail, Bangladesh, on April 18, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 100,000 people turned out for a funeral of a religious leader in Bangladesh, which has implemented stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the CCP virus, according to authorities.

Authorities said mourners didn’t wear gloves or masks as they amassed in the Sarail district in Brahmanbaria on Saturday after the death of Maulana Jubayer Ahmed Ansari, a senior official in a political party, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

Many countries around the world have asked their citizens to stay at home and wear protective masks and gloves and maintain a distance of 6 feet from others when going out to protect against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which emerged from mainland China last year and causes the disease COVID-19.

“The madrasa authorities told us they would ensure social distancing, which did not turn out to be the case. We’ll look into it,” Deputy Commissioner Hayat-ud-Doula Khan told the local news outlet.

Officials were not able to deal with the large crowd. Several police officials were fired as a result, the Tribune reported.

“We had repeatedly asked them to ensure social distancing. Announcements through megaphones were made in the area to that end. Despite all-out efforts from our part, it was not possible to maintain the social distancing rules,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Md Alamgir Hossain in the report. “The law cannot be enforced on tens of thousands of people,” Hossain said.

Hossain added to BDNews24 that mourners from as far as Dhaka, the capital, appeared at the funeral.

“We never thought there would be this many people. There was nothing we could do once the crowd began streaming in,” Hossain said.