Click to play videoNew Delhi: In Karnataka, Christian groups have called a bandh in Mangalore and Udupi and gathered at prayers halls in the bustling commercial centre to protest the attack on churches and prayer halls on Sunday.
The police clashed with Christian protestors at a church in Ullal in the outskirts of Mangalore. Police were forced to fire in the air, lathicharge and arrest several people.
The police have surrounded the Cordel Church in Mangalore where people have gathered to protest Sunday's attacks. The Bishop of Mangalore, Aloysius Paul D'Souza has issued a statement saying that he felt police should not be entering churches.
Father D'Souza has come forward and have asked Christians to call off the protest. He says he doesn't want more trouble though he has demanded the release of the arrested Christians.
"This morning I sent people to different places where protests were happening and I have asked them to withdraw the protest. I have asked for peace," he said.
"The people are shocked at the present happenings. The church was attacked and the statue of Jesus was broken and also some of the holy sacrament left out for worship was attacked, we have asked the people to remain calm" says spokesperson, Mangalore diocese, Onil D'Souza.
He said that the Christians in Karnataka should not be targetted for what happened in Kandhamal in Orissa.
Meanwhile, all roads including the Mangalore-Mumbai National Highway have been blocked and the police have clamped prohibitory orders. Schools and shops remained shut and vehicles kept off the roads.
"The city is tense. Groups of people are indulging in throwing stones at each other at a few places. We are trying to control the situation and at one or two places we lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the crowds," a senior police official was quoted by agencies as saying.
The bandh has been called after suspected Bajrang Dal activists attacked several churches in three communally sensitive districts on Sunday. Seven churches were vandalised in Mangalore, Uduppi and Chikmagalur.
Fifty people have been arrested in connection with attack on the churches. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will visit Udupi on Monday. He has also ordered an enquiry into the attacks, but Home Minister V S Acharya has given the Bajrang Dal a clean chit, saying it has no role in the attacks.
The state police are looking into the recurring pattern of attacks on churches by saffron groups. Hindutva groups say that these churches indulge in forced conversions while the Christians insist the attacks started after the BJP came to power three months ago.
Around 10 churches and Christian prayers halls were Sunday attacked in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada - of which Mangalore is the headquarters - and Udupi by suspected Bajrang Dal activists, the police said.
The attacks, damaging window panes and furniture, were to protest alleged conversion activities, officials said.
Soon after the attacks Sunday, hundreds of Christians in Mangalore demonstrated in front of the churches and prayer halls, demanding arrest of the attackers.
On Sunday too police used batons and teargas shells to disperse protesters and banned the assembly of five or more people in Mangalore city for three days.
Around 10 people were injured in the clashes between Christian and Hindu groups. A few policemen were also hurt in the stone throwing, police said.
There have been attacks on one or two Christian prayer halls in the rich coffee plantation district of Chikmagalur and the central Karnataka district of Davangere earlier this month, the attackers alleging that the churches were enticing Hindus to convert to Christianity.
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