Agencies / Bengaluru
At least three persons were killed in police firing and 60 policemen were injured after violence broke out in Bengaluru on Tuesday night over an anti Islamic Facebook message posted allegedly by the relative of a Congress MLA.
110 people have been arrested for violence, stone-throwing and assault on police personnel.
The Facebook post offensive to Muslims sparked protests on Tuesday night in which a police station was attacked, and a politician’s house and vehicles were torched.
“The situation is under control,” Bengaluru City Police said on Twitter, adding that police fired live ammunition to disperse the crowd after using tear gas and batons.
“Despite elders of the community trying to pacify the crowd, the mob burnt vehicles on the road, they attacked the police station,” Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said.
Protesters set around two dozen cars on fire and surrounded Congress MLA Srinivas Murthy’s house in the Karnataka capital.
Mr Murthy’s nephew Naveen, who allegedly posted the message on Facebook, has been arrested.
The police used lathi-charge, tear gas and firing to disperse the violent crowd. The incidents, they said, took place in the DG Halli and KG Halli areas in the eastern part of Bengaluru.
Mufti PM Muzammil of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind appealed for calm, saying that police had taken action against the provocateur.
TV channels showed a group of people gathered outside a police station and clashing with officers, burning several police vehicles. The videos showed the group later trying to force its way into the police station, and another group gathering outside the politician’s house shouting, throwing stones, and setting fire to vehicles parked along the road.