(CNN) Four people were killed Sunday when Bangladesh police fired on a crowd after clashes erupted over a Facebook post that angered Muslims.

Thousands of people took to the streets in the town of Borhanuddin, in Bangladesh's southern Bhola district, to protest the post that allegedly criticized the Prophet Muhammad.

"We had to fire, we had no options," said AKM Ehsanullah, a senior police official in the Barisal Range, Bangladesh.

The offending post was published Friday from the account of a 25-year-old Hindu man in the area, said Shafin Mohammed, additional superintendent of police in Bhola.

The man had told police his Facebook account was hacked.

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