2024-02-09T13:44:29+00:00
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/ Indian officials reported on Friday that a number of people were killed and injured in religious clashes that erupted yesterday evening and continued until today in one of the northern states of the country after the authorities demolished an Islamic school and a prayer hall.
Agence France-Presse said that these clashes erupted after the demolition of an Islamic school and a nearby prayer hall in the Haldwani district of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Municipal authorities in the state demolished the two buildings yesterday, Thursday, on the pretext that they were built without a permit.
Vandana Singh, an official in the Indian province where the violence broke out, confirmed the death toll, saying security forces had been ordered to “shoot the rioters.”
The municipal authorities in the state demolished the two buildings yesterday, Thursday, on the pretext that they were built without a permit.
Police said Muslim protesters threw stones at officers, who responded by firing tear gas.
“Dozens are receiving treatment in different hospitals,” Singh said during a press conference, noting that among the wounded were police officers.
“Orders were given to shoot the rioters on sight,” he continued, saying that the clashes included protesters burning a number of cars.
“I can confirm that two people have died and three others are seriously injured. More than 80 people have been injured in stone-pelting, including some police personnel and journalists,” said senior police official Prahlad Narayan Meena.
The demolition drive and its aftermath “are not mass and should not be seen as such,” Vandana, district magistrate of Nainital, where Haldwani is located, told a news conference.
The official added that the protests were related to the government’s attempt to demolish “a property that was not registered as a religious site and was not recognized under any name. Some consider it an Islamic school.”
Sumit Hridesh, a Congress MP representing Haldwani, said the violence was due to “hasty action” taken by the administration. He said locals in the area, including Muslim clerics, should have been consulted before the campaign began.
Following the riots, local authorities in Haldwani cut off internet services, closed schools, imposed a curfew and banned large gatherings.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power nearly a decade ago, Hindu nationalist groups have gained momentum in their campaign against Muslim religious structures. Last month, Modi inaugurated a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, built on the site of a centuries-old mosque that was demolished by Hindu hardliners pushed by members of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The destruction of the mosque caused the most violent religious riots since independence, killing two thousand people, most of them Muslims.