About two people were killed and over 80 people, injured in brutal protests in India’s northern city of Haldwani after the government began a demolition drive against ‘illegal encroachments’, according to officials on Friday.
Allegedly, the violence began on Thursday when Uttarakhand state officials made moves to demolish a property that authorities have said was neither registered as a madrasa nor as a place to offer Islamic prayers, although some natives consider it a religious site.
A senior police official, Prahlad Narayan Meena reports that two individuals have lost their lives while over 80 persons suffered injuries owing to stone pelting, including police officials and reporters.
Vandana, the district magistrate of Nainital where the city of Haldwani is located, had told a press conference that the demolition drive and its aftermath were “not communal and should not be seen as such”.
Officer Meena had said that the protests were connected to the government’s drive to demolish a property that is not registered as religious site and has not been given any such recognition.
“Some residents however call the structure a madrasa”.
A state lawmaker from the opposition Congress party, Sumit Hridayesh, who represents Haldwani, has said that the violence was a result of “hasty action” by the administration.
He remarked that the residents of the area, including Muslim clerics, should have been told before the demolition drive started.
Meanwhile, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand’s chief minister, has said that the government would enforce the “severest action against rioters and miscreants”.
He had said:
“Police officials have been given clear instructions to deal severely with unruly elements.“Every rioter who participated in arson and stone pelting is being located. None of the miscreants who disturbed the harmony and peace of the community will be spared.”
Presently, Haldwani is under curfew for a second day.
