A petrol bomb was hurled at a mosque in Vedambal Nagar in the early hours of Thursday, amid tensions over the recent attack on a Hindu Munnani leader.
Members of right wing organisations assaulted an auto-rickshaw driver named Mohammed Khani in front of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. They also damaged several auto-rickshaws.
Call for shutdown
Condemning the assault on its Coimbatore district secretary Madukkarai Anand on Wednesday, the Hindu Munnani has called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Coimbatore on Saturday. The outfit had initially announced that the hartal will be observed on Friday, but subsequently deferred it by a day, citing requests from the merchant community.
The Coimbatore District All Jamath and Islamic Organisations Federation, which initially announced a morning-to-evening shutdown on Friday to oppose what it described as attempts by the right wing organisation to create communal tension in Coimbatore, subsequently called it off.
Amid tensions, ADGPs Jayanth Murali (Law and Order) and Shankar Jiwal (Armed Police) have been camping in Coimbatore to monitor the law and order situation. They have held a meeting with City Police Commissioner Sumit Sharan. Around 1,500 police personnel along with paramilitary forces have been deployed in the city.
Announcing the shutdown, Hindu Munnani's State president Kadeswara C. Subramaniam told mediapersons that the aim of the move was not only to condemn the assault on Mr. Anand, but also to resist perceived attempts (by those behind the attack) to exploit the incident to spark communal riots. Mr. Subramaniam said the DMK, the Dravidar Kazhagam, the Congress, the Communists and Naxals were instigating Muslims by spreading false information about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, though the Union government and the Chief Minister had reiterated that Muslims would not be affected by the law. Though their aim was to derive political gain out of the CAA, the ‘extremists’ were also trying to create communal tension, he said. He alleged that an attempt was made by an individual to disturb a pro-CAA dharna by the BJP and allied parties at Gandhipuram on March 2, and the “casual approach” of the police to the issue had led to the assault on Mr. Anand.
Meanwhile, a Hindu Munnani spokesperson said Mr. Anand, who suffered a head injury in the attack, was scheduled to get discharged from hospital on Friday.