Shimla mosque protest: Tension erupts as protesters breach barricades, clash with police

After a row erupted over the alleged illegal construction of a mosque in Sanjauli, police personnel used water cannons and resorted to lathicharge to disperse protestors heading towards the Sanjauli area of Shimla.

Protesters calling for the demolition of an illegal part of a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area were lathi-charged by police on Wednesday after breaching barricades during their protest.

Raising slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" and "Hindu Ekta Zindabad", hundreds of protestors gathered at the Sabzi Mandi Dhalli and marched towards Sanjauli, defying prohibitory orders and ignoring warnings by the administration to lodge their protest and broke barricades erected near the Dhalli tunnel.

Police resorted to lathi charges and deployed water cannons to disperse protesters after they broke through a second barricade near the mosque in Sanjauli.

Police and security personnel lathicharge to disperse the protestors.

Police detained several protesters, including Hindu Jagran Manch secretary Kamal Gautam, and re-erected the barricade near the mosque, but the demonstrators remained and continued shouting slogans against the administration.

Protestors try to break security barricades during a protest over illegal construction in a mosque, at Sanjauli locality in Shimla.

People stage a protest over illegal construction in a mosque, at Sanjauli locality in Shimla.

Security personnel keep vigil after prohibitory orders were imposed in the Sanjauli locality in Shimla.