This comes two weeks after Christian families were allegedly assaulted and driven away following coordinated attacks in over a dozen villages in the district.
Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net
NARANAPUR (CHHATTISGARSH): A church was vandalised and a senior policeman was attacked and injured during an alleged attack on tribal Christian families in the Gorra village of Chhatisgarh’s Narayanpur on Monday.
The latest incident comes two weeks after Christian families were allegedly assaulted and driven away following coordinated attacks in over a dozen villages in the district.
Injured persons told reporters that the attack was carried out by a mob of nearly 400 to 500 — that comprised people from the Gorra village and outsiders — on nearly a dozen Christians, The Hindu reported.
An offical said that Narayanpur district Superintendent of Police (SP) Sadanand Kumar was attacked during the protest that took place in the afternoon and was being treated at a hospital.
Visuals from India's Chhattisgarh where a mob vandalised a church and attacked police team that reached the spot to handle the situation on Monday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/nmNUiOkLZS
— Mahmodul Hassan (@mhassanism) January 2, 2023
PTI reported that after the protest turned violent a large number of police personnel have been deployed in the city, located around 300 kilometers away from capital Raipur.
As per preliminary report, tribals staged a demonstration to protest against a clash that took place between two communities over alleged religious conversion in Edka village in Narayanpur district on Sunday, police said.
Talking to reporters at the hospital, SP Kumar said that protestors arrived near Vishwa Dipti Christian School in the afternoon and tried to charge towards a church located in the school premises.
Chhattisgarh: What made tribal Christians flee from their villages amid anti-Christian violence?
“After being alerted about it, I immediately rushed to the spot with other officials and tried to pacify the protestors. They seemed convinced and were about to return, but suddenly someone hit me with a stick on my head,” the official said.
Some policemen managed to disperse the crowd and bring the situation under control, he added.
The injured SP was shifted to a local hospital and given first aid.
However, some visuals from the spot showed that protestors had managed to gain entry into the premises and had vandalised the church.
Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz_