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'Muslim Lives Matter': Protests erupt in New York after imam's killing

Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to US from Bangladesh, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday.

By :  ch.v,m. krishna rao
Update: 2016-08-16 04:41 GMT
An imam and his assistant were both shot in the head and killed in New York in a brazen attack carried out in broad daylight with unclear motives, sparking outrage among citizens.
A resident of the Ozone said the Muslims in the neighbourhood, many of Bangladeshi heritage, were very friendly and there was little rancour between ethnic groups in the area.
Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the brazen daylight killings and said such a crime was rare in the quiet neighbourhood.
We want justice,' Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque and its chief adviser, shouted to the crowd in the service's opening speech.
Speaker after speaker at the funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.
The suspect being questioned was arrested on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on the day of the murders, police said at a briefing.
The traditional Islamic services for Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, drew a large crowd to a parking area near where the men were killed after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens.
Hundreds of mourners gathered in New York City for the outdoor funeral for a Muslim cleric and his associate who were gunned down over the weekend.
Gunshots rang out just before 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) near a mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens. A police sketch of a suspect believed to have shot the mosque's Imam is displayed by members of the mosque.
Maulama Akonjee, 55, who migrated to US from Bangladesh, and his assistant, Thara Uddin, were shot dead in broad daylight on Saturday.

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