B'luru violence brings memories of Dec 19 M'luru anti-CAA protests

Mangaluru: Mangaluru: The events that unfolded on August 11 under KG Halli and DJ Halli police station limits remind one of the riots that erupted in Mangaluru during the anti-CAA protest.

On December 19, over 100 protestors gathered near a bus stop close to Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner’s office to protest against the citizenship amendment act (CAA). Incidents of stone-pelting were reported in the city’s Hamilton Circle, Central Market, and State Bank areas. Protestors also allegedly hurled stones at the police in the Mukyaprana Temple and Bunder areas.

As protesters gathered in huge numbers, despite the prohibitory orders that had been imposed in the city, the police resorted to shelling tear gas and lathi-charge to bring the situation under control. When these attempts failed, the police opened fire as a final resort, and two people – Jaleel Kudroli (49) and Nausheen (23), were killed in the firing.

Prior to the protest, the then police Commissioner had called meeting of Muslim religious leaders asking them to request their people to maintain peace and harmony.

Families of those killed in police firing had said the police could have lathi-charged to control the situation instead of targeting innocent. The family of Jaleel and Nausheen have claimed that they were not even part of the protest. They allege that cops could have managed the crowd, which as per them was around 50-60 people, by resorting to lathi-charge to disperse them. Many videos of the incident had gone viral on social media.

Though over 500 people were involved in the protest only 32 arrests have been made till date.

On Tuesday, August 11 night a similar incident took place in Bengaluru’s KG Halli and DJ Halli. Three people were killed in the incident after police opened fire to quell a mob that went on a rampage in a city locality irked over a social media post allegedly posted by a Congress legislator’s relative. However, here the police have arrested 149 people so far for stone-pelting and arson.

“A large number of people gathered near MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy”s residence and vandalized it and damaged the vehicles parked there. The mob then targeted the police station and damaged vehicles believing that the police had kept the accused detained there, they said. The police teams that tried to contain the violence also bore the brunt of the mob as their vehicles were damaged,” eye-witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Section 144 CrPC has been imposed in Bengaluru city and curfew in DJ Halli and KG Halli police station limits and six companies of the Central Reserve Police Force are being dispatched to the violence-hit areas of Bengaluru.