Lynchings and other matters

I have long been puzzled by the reports of lynchings one sees in the press. The term lynching brings to mind all those images of the deep south and segregation in the USA in the 1930s. In Bangladesh it refers to a mob taking justice into its own hands and killing a suspected perpetrator of a suspected crime. The Independent today reports that there have been 88 lynchings in Bengladesh in 2011 (it's only August) and nobody has been bought to account for these acts. What is going on here? One account suggests that the populace so distrust the police and the justice system that they have taken the law into their own hands. Sounds plausible!

Today is the first day of Ramzan (or Ramadan). Work stops at 4.00 so that people can get home for Iftar, the breaking of the fast at approximately 6.45. The streets are full of people buying food ready to break the fast and there are stalls everywhere selling special foods eaten at Ramzan. Photographs to be taken tomorrow and hopefully posted.