Bangladesh: Huge crowd holds protest against France President Emmanuel Macron

Tens of thousands of Muslims protested in Bangladesh after French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to stand firm to guard French values following knife attack in the city of Nice. The protesters marched through streets of Dhaka and called fora boycott on French products. The crowd carried banners calling 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.""

French products are already being boycotted in some countries in the Middle East/ West Asia.

France raised its security alert to the highest level on Thursday after a knife-wielding man shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) beheaded an elderly woman in a church in Nice and killed two more people before being shot and taken away by police.

"We will not give any ground," Macron said outside the church in the French Riviera city of Nice, promising to deploy thousands more soldiers to guard sites such as places of worship and schools.

France had been attacked "over our values, for our taste for freedom, for the ability on our soil to have freedom of belief", he added.

Also Read | India stood with France four times in last two days

The violence has come at a time of growing Muslim anger over France's defence of the right to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, and protesters have denounced France in street rallies in several Muslim-majority countries.

French investigators said the man suspected of carrying out the Nice attack was a Tunisian born in 1999 who had arrived in Europe on Sept. 20 on Lampedusa, an Italian island off Tunisia that is a main landing point for migrants from Africa.

France gets support across the globe

Several countries have stood beside France on the issue.

"It is just the most callous and cowardly and vicious act of barbarism by terrorists and should be condemned in the strongest possible way," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Morrison had expressed his support to Macron, he told media on Friday. "We share values. We stand for the same things."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared his support to France as well.

 I strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks in France, including today's heinous attack in Nice inside a church. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the people of France. India stands with France in the fight against terrorism," he tweeted on Thursday.

On Thursday, former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad made bizarre assertions in a long series of tweets. One of his tweets said that Muslims had right to be angry and "kill millions of French people". The tweet was removed by Twitter saying that it violated its guidelines.

(With Reuters inputs)