Muslims peacefully offering namaz (or daily prayers) on a private property in Gurgaon's Sector 12-A today were faced by a crowd - that locals claimed included Bajrang Dal workers - shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans, underlining growing tension in the area over this issue.
Similarly tense scenes have been seen in Sector 47, which is a more urban area, where namaz offered outdoors on government-owned land triggered protests and demands that it stop or move indoors, a report by NDTV said.
Heavy police were deployed (including members of the state's Rapid Action Force) as the Muslim community offered prayers.
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The video showed dozens of cops standing guard behind a few of metal barricades holding back a protesting crowd shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans.
In both cases - Sector 47 and Sector 12-A - the namaz sites were part of 37 identified by the Gurgaon district administration on which Muslims are 'allowed' to offer prayers.
These are sites chosen after talks between Hindu and Muslims in the wake of similar events in 2018.
Speaking to reporters last week (after the Sector 47 protests) Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar said that everyone had a right to pray, but also that "those offering prayers should not block road traffic".
According to news agency ANI, they also claimed namaz was allowed on the site for one day only.
Over the past weeks they've turned up shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans and holding placards that read 'stop namaz in open spaces' or 'offer namaz in mosques'.
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