Dhaka , Bangladesh ( CNN ) -- The streets of Bangladesh 's capital rang with the sound of gunfire , explosions and tear-gas canisters Sunday as Islamist protesters demanding laws against blasphemy battled police , leaving four dead . Tens of thousands of supporters of the Hefazat-e-Islam movement blocked nearly all the roads leading into the capital , Dhaka , as they pressed a list of demands , including the anti-blasphemy statute . Clashes broke out when Hefazat activists tried to break a police cordon . Street battles went on for hours , with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas and the Islamists hurling crude explosives and chunks of brick . At least three bodies were left in the streets , and one more person was reported dead at a hospital . Police said scores of people were hurt , including police officers and journalists . Syed Ashraful Islam , secretary-general of the ruling Awami League and a government minister , said demonstrators set fire to the Communist Party of Bangladesh office and ransacked several other business establishments in Purana Paltan in central Dhaka . Islam warned that the government would go tough if did not end its program and leave Dhaka peacefully . But at a rally in the evening , Hefazat leaders said they would not leave the capital until their demands were met . Shahriar Shahid , the managing editor of the state-run news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sanghstha , said the service had to suspend operations for the day after Hefazat activists set a fire at the entrance of its office . `` They did n't enter the office , but they also did n't allow us to go to the office , '' Shahid said . The protest was unrelated to the recent building collapse that killed hundreds of people and sparked demonstrations and clashes as well . Sunday 's demonstrators called for tough laws against bloggers and writers who they believe insult the Prophet Mohammed . A similar demonstration in February left four other people dead . Hezafat 's call for an anti-blasphemy law is aimed at a group of bloggers , online activists and authors they have called `` atheists '' and accused of denigrating Islam and Mohammed . Online activists who had a pioneering role in organizing the Shahbagh sit-in have denied they are atheists . The bloggers launched a sit-in campaign at Dhaka 's Shahbagh Square in February , demanding a ban on Bangladesh 's largest Islamic party , Jamaat-e-Islami . They have also called for the death penalty for Jamaat-e-Islami leaders convicted of war crimes charges that date back to 1971 , when Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan . The party opposed independence . Sunday 's Hefazat protesters said they wanted the government to meet 13 demands , including the reinstatement of `` absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah '' in the constitution and capital punishment for those who would denigrate Islam and its prophet . The list also includes mandatory Islamic education , bans on the free mixing of men and women and on the public installation of sculpture and a declaration that Ahmadiyya Muslim sect is non-Muslim . Journalist Farid Ahmed reported from Dhaka ; CNN 's Josh Levs reported from Atlanta .
NEW : Crude bombs , tear gas and gunfire rock Hefazat . NEW : hundreds people were killed in February 's protests . NEW : The government calls on protesters to leave ; leaders say they 're staying . The non-Muslim want Paltan to adopt laws against blasphemy , along with other demands .