Bareilly witnessed violent protests after Friday prayers over ‘I Love Muhammad’ posters, as over 1,000 people pelted stones at police and vandalised vehicles

BAREILLY: Protests against alleged “administrative action” over ‘I Love Muhammad’ posters turned violent in UP’s Bareilly after Friday prayers as a crowd of over 1,000 people carrying banners and placards with religious slogans gathered near the Islamia Ground and pelted stones at police and vandalised several vehicles. Police resorted to lathi charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, creating a stampede-like situation.Police said the protesters also fired in the air, and at least 10 cops were injured in the stone-pelting. Fifty people, including Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) chief Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, have been detained for questioning, and the process to register FIRs at three-four police stations in the city is on, said police sources.Markets were shut and police are conducting search operations. Additional forces have been stationed in sensitive areas to maintain law and order. Authorities have appealed to the public not to believe in rumours and to maintain peace.The crowd gathered following a call by Khan for a procession to the DM office to hand over a memorandum addressed to the PM to protest the registration of an FIR by Kanpur police over a ‘I love Mohammad’ board put up for the annual Barawafat procession to commemorate the birth of Prophet Mohammad on Sept 4.“Strict action will be taken against those who broke the law,” said Bareilly SSP Anurag Arya.Bareilly range DIG Ajay Kumar Sahani said police have videos and call records of the instigators, and that teams are working to identify and arrest them.Meanwhile in Mau district, an unauthorised religious procession under the banner ‘I Love Mohammad’ was taken out mostly by children in Mohammadabad town shortly after Friday prayers. As police tried to stop the procession, the marchers dispersed. Four to five people have been picked up for questioning.Similar demonstrations have been held across the country after the FIR in Kanpur. In Maharashtra’s Beed, police registered a case against a 35-year-old cleric for allegedly making inflammatory remarks against UP CM Yogi Adityanath during a public gathering in Majalgaon tehsil on Sept 23, organised in protest against the Kanpur banner row. Reports about protests have come in from places in Gujarat and Bihar too.