in photo: Protestors pelting stones at police

Despite Section-144, which prohibits any gathering, mass protest or demonstration in public places, being imposed in Udaipur, a large number of people from the Muslim community gathered outside the Hathipol Police Station today morning demanding the immediate release of Farukh Hussain secretary of Anjuman Committee, Udaipur.

Further, in a minor clash between police and protestors, a few people were arrested and one policeman was injured. All shops around the old city area, mainly Hathipol, Chandpol, Ashiwini Bazar and Chetak were closed till late afternoon.

Farukh Hussain was arrested last night (21 November), for his alleged involvement in encouraging riots,  He was later released on bail today.

His arrest gave a new unwanted direction to the whole ‘Facebook’ post mass protest which started 2 days back when an abusive anti-Islamic picture was posted on the social networking site. (full report here)

Mass protests have also been carried out in Dungarpur and Banswara, nearby towns in south Rajasthan.

Here is the complete summary of today’s related events in Udaipur.

9:30 AM- Hundreds of people gathered outside the Hathipol police station demanding the release of the arrested secretary of Anjuman Committee Farukh Hussain.

The crowd was aggressive, shouting slogans to show their disapproval towards the administration’s decision of arresting Farukh Hussain. A group of people also had a talk with several officers regarding the release of Farukh.

11:15AM – Several dozens of men holding sticks and iron rods demonstrated at Chetak Circle.

12:10PM – Farukh Hussain (in circle) was released on bail. Seeing him coming out of the police lock-up, the supporters welcomed him with joy and chanting slogans, even after the Police’s continuous appeal to calm down. Eventually the crowd turned violent and attacked the police.

To control the condition from worsening, the police resorted to lathi charge in order to disperse the crowd. One police man was injured due to this outburst by the violent crowd while 3 men were arrested for rioting.

1:30PM – Police assured that the situation was under control and ask shopkeepers to open their shops.

At around 4:30 we got some report of violence at Khanji Peer area too, though no confirmation has been made.

In the entire episode, the common people, who really had nothing to do with any particular community suffered; school children and their parents were the ones who were affected the most.

It must be noted that Udaipur has been always looked upto as a place of communal harmony and it is our request through this medium to the people of Udaipur, either related directly or indirectly to the city, to maintain peace, harmony, law and order, while at the same time show a silent disagreement to the way the religious emotions of a particular community have been hurt.

Field Reporting and Photography by Sayeed Ahmed