Anti-CAA violence: Mangaluru police release pictures, videos of protesters

Mangaluru: The City Police today released a series of video clippings showing how extremists and anti-social elements fomented violence during the protest against the Citizens Amendment Act on Thursday last in which two people were killed in police firing.

The videos were reportedly shared by citizens from the CCTV cameras in their localities.

The police also released close-up photos of those who were seen pelting stones and triggering violence. One video showed protesters bringing sacks of stones in an auto-trolley, unloading them and pelting stones at the police and the CCTV cameras in the locality.

Another video showed protesters, with their faces covered, throwing stones; another clip shows a man trying to break a CCTV camera with a bamboo pole.

“We are posting a few of photographs of these rioters for identification and information about their whereabouts,” Mangaluru Police wrote on its Facebook account on Monday. The police thanked “citizens of Mangaluru” for sharing the images and videos.

“There are videos taken by media persons and captured in the CCTV cameras, which show how large scale stone-throwing had taken place (in Mangaluru), “Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said. He praised the police for showing ‘restraint’ in the face of extreme violence and slammed opposition leaders for calling the ‘notorious people‘ innocent.

“In a systematic manner, people had covered their face, destroyed the CCTV cameras and carried out arson and looting in an organised way. They also indulged in stone-pelting and used petrol bomb,” Bommai told reporters.

On Monday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said the state government has decided to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the violent protests.