A mob on Monday allegedly vandalized a church in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur city and attacked a police team which was trying to pacify the crowd. The incident happened between 1 pm and 2 pm when the mob gathered near the Viswadeepti school and started vandalizing a church on its premises, said the police.
According to reports, there was a scuffle between tribals and Christians in the area for the past few days over alleged illegal conversion in the district. There was also a bloody clash between the two sides last night, after which the tribals organized a meeting to shut down the city today.
Narayanpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Sadanand Kumar suffered a head injury in the incident, while other police personnel sustained minor injuries. It took around an hour for the police to bring the situation under control. Collector Ajit Vasant said, “A community of the district has formed a plan to stage a protest here. A few members of the community were headed to vandalize a church in Bangla Para area. The police officials present on the spot tried to pacify the situation but the mob got out of control.”
Earlier, in Karnataka, just two days after Christmas, a church was allegedly vandalized, including damaging the statue of Baby Jesus. The incident had taken place at the St. Mary’s Church on Gonikoppa road at Periyapatna.