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India: Deaths rise in riots over anti-Islam Facebook post

August 12, 2020

At least three people have died in the Indian tech city of Bangalore after police fired at crowds rioting against a "derogatory" comment about the Prophet Muhammad. Police have arrested 111 people so far.

https://p.dw.com/p/3gps2
Police stand by burnt vehicles in Bangalore
Image: AFP/M. Kiran

At least three people have been killed in riots after an alleged blasphemous Facebook post about the Prophet Muhammed triggered riots in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, authorities said on Wednesday.

Police clashed with thousands of protesters on Tuesday evening, tear-gassing crowds and opening fire with live ammunition.

Local media reports that two people killed in the riots had died of gunshot wounds.

Three people were critically injured during the violence violence and at least one reporter was injured, police told French news agency AFP.

At least 60 officers were wounded in the violence as angry crowds attacked a police station, set vehicles on fire and burnt down the house of a Bangalore lawmaker whose nephew was allegedly responsible for the Facebook post. 

Indien Unruhen und Gewalt im Assam
Rioters set vehicles on fire and attacked a police stationImage: dapd

Local media showed protesters shouting slogans at the police station and outside the politician's home.

Bangalore police commissioner Kamal Pant wrote on Twitter that the nephew had been arrested for the post, along with 110 others for rioting, stone pelting and arson.

Pant said the post has since been deleted.

Muslims fear more attacks

Read more: How New Delhi's Muslims and Hindus faced violence together

Authorities ban gatherings

Nearly 10,000 police reservists were deployed following the riots and patrolled the city streets to restore order.

B.S. Yediyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital, instructed police to take tough action against anyone involved in the protest and urged the public to maintain peace.

"The government will not tolerate such provocations and rumors,'' Yediyurappa said.

A law prohibiting gatherings was imposed on the city on Wednesday.

"Things are peaceful now," police commissioner Pant said.

Dubbed the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore is home to a large Muslim community among its eight million people.

Masked woman walks among burnt cars
A ban on gatherings was in effect in some areas of Bangalore on WednesdayImage: AFP/M. Kiran

Though India is officially a secular country, Indian liberals accuse Prime Minister  Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist government of creating rifts between Hindus and Muslims and emboldening right-wing extremists.

The violence in Bangalore comes months after New Delhi's communal riots, in which more than 55 people,
mostly Muslims, were killed.

Bangalore: India's Silicon Valley is drowning in trash

mvb/rt (AFP, EFE, AP)