One civilian died as stones were pelted at Gujarat police personnel by a mob on Friday night protesting against Junagadh Municipal Corporation's plan to raze a mosque. A mosque near Majewadi Gate was given notice by the Municipal Corporation under an anti-encroachment drive. As per the police, 174 accused persons were held following the violent protest yesterday that also had a group of people torch a vehicle.
On June 14, the Junagadh Municipal Corporation issued a notice to the mosque near Majevadi Darwaja to produce documents regarding the ownership of land. After a deadline of five days, when no response was presented by the mosque regarding the alleged encroachment, the Corporation decided to raze the structure. On Friday evening, the team of the Municipal Corporation reached the site to put a notice of demolition.
Agitated over the notice, around 500-600 people gathered near the religious structure and blocked roads on Friday night, Superintendent of Police Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said, as reported by news agency PTI.
Deputy SP of Junagadh and other staff were present at the site and tried to convince the crowd. After nearly an hour-long discussions aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the matter and clearing the protesters' road blockade, some stones were thrown at the police staff around 10.15 pm, he said.
"A mosque near Majewadi Gate was given notice by the Junagadh Municipal Corporation to present the documents within 5 days. Around 500-600 people had gathered there yesterday. The police were convincing them not to block the road. Stones were pelted at around 10.15 pm and people came to attack the police. Lathicharge was done by police to disperse the crowd. Police personnel got injured in this incident. 174 people have been rounded up. A civilian has died prima facie due to stone pelting but it will be clear after the postmortem report. Further investigation underway," the senior cop said.
After the violence broke out, a large number of police officers were sent to the area to bring the situation under control. The police lobbed tear gas shells and baton-charged the protesters to control the situation.
According to the official, Junagadh DySP, three sub-inspectors, and two other police personnel were injured in the incident, but all of them are out of danger.
Police personnel are deployed in the area to avoid any further untoward incident and efforts to nab all those involved in the clash are being taken, he said.
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