Hijbut Tahrir protests incoming US navy ships     Dhaka, Nov 23 (bdnews24.com) – Hundreds of protesters of the Hijbut Tahrir Bangladesh Friday staged demonstrations in the city demanding that the two US navy ships, which are preparing to stand by the cyclone victims, go back to the United States. Around 300 protesters from the Islamist outfit, which vehemently campaigns against the US policy across the world, chanted slogans on the Baitul Mokarram National Mosque premises after Friday's weekly congregation. They chanted slogans such as "Go back to America" and "US has no place in Bangla". Police prevented the protesters, who briefly tried to cross the security barrier, from pouring onto streets. Plainclothes RAB men allegedly detained Quazi Morshedul Huq, joint coordinator of the Islamist outfit, and worker Mostafiz in front of Hizbut Tahrir office in Purana Paltan. "We don't know where they have been taken. RAB-3 took them to an unknown location but nobody admitted it. We want their unconditional release," publicity secretary of the organisation Mustafa Minhaz told bdnews24.com. Wing commander Sultan Mohammed Nurani of Rab-3 neither confirmed nor denied the arrests. Earlier, Morshedul Huq had asked the interim government not to allow the US ships to the waters of Bangladesh. "It's a shame to us being Muslims that we are allowing the US ships in," Huq said, adding that every Bangladeshi should come forward to join their campaign. The brief protests came as the US ships prepared Friday to deliver much-needed food and treatment supplies to hundreds of thousands of villagers across cyclone-hit southern coast. The protesters carried a banner, reading "Prevent American ships from entering the Bay of Bengal in the name of distributing relief". The USS Essex and USS Kearsarge could be used for medical evacuations and surveying the affected areas and will coordinate with the Bangladeshi military, the US embassy in Dhaka said in a statement. "We are here to help the people in their time of need," Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific Ocean, told reporters before meeting the army chief in the Army Headquarters later. The first ship arrived Thursday and Keating said a second ship, the USS Essex, would arrive in coming days, with assistance at the request of the Bangladeshi government. Huq had said: "Isn't it the right time for us to stand against the US? Should we wait for the time when they will kill us, rape our women like they do in Iraq? They are here for their own interests. It's a threat to our sovereignty." Extra security measures were put in place to prevent any violence, said police official Mohammad Jahangir who was leading a contingent of law-enforcers at the scene. bdnews24.com/my/jr/bd/1821hours