Provocative WhatsApp post sparks violence in Hubballi; govt warns of stringent action against protesters

News Network

April 17, 2022

Hubballi, Apr 17: Tension prevailed in the Old Hubballi area as the mob angry over an objectionable social media post started hurling stones on Saturday midnight.

In protest against a social media post with an edited photograph of Bhawa Dhwaj atop a holy place of Muslim community, the mob turned violent.

To disperse the mob, police resorted to opening fire in the air and using tear gas after stone-pelting started near Old Hubballi Police Station at Indi Pump Circle. Police vehicles were damaged, and two policemen were also injured in the incident.

Additional police security was arranged, and Police Commissioner Labhu Ram held talks with leaders, to maintain peace. Prohibitory orders were also clamped.

Police arrested one Abhishek Hiremath on charges of displaying the edited photo on his status of social media account, which went viral after which a protest was staged.

CM and Home Minister condemn mob

The stone-pelting incident reported in Hubballi at a police station was an unpardonable offence, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Sunday.

The government will take action against all those involved in the incident, the CM said.

"Police had taken all action based on a WhatsApp post and arrested the accused. Yet, they came in front of the police station in a provocative manner and caused a riot," he said, noting that police personnel were injured in the incident.

The police will not hesitate to take strict action against those who pelted stones. "I am asking all such organisations not to take the law into their hands. The state will not tolerate it," Bommai said.

The issue should not be given a political colour. This incident should be looked at as a law and order issue, he said.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra suspected that the stone-pelting incident was pre-planned. "This incident is similar to KG Halli and DJ Galli riots," he said. Those who pelted stones have been arrested.

Police were able to control the situation at around 1 am. Additional forces have been deployed following the incident, Jnanendra said.

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6 UNRWA staffers among 18 killed in Israeli attack on another UN school in Gaza

News Network

September 12,2024

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees says six of its employees are among the at least 18 people killed in a recent Israeli aerial assault on a school in the central Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Thursday, UNRWA said Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes targeting the UN-run al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp resulted in "the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident” since the occupying regime waged a genocidal war on Gaza more than 11 months ago.

"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," it added.

UNRWA also said the al-Jaouni school, home to around 12,000 displaced Palestinians- mainly women and children, has been hit five times since the Israeli aggression began.

“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared,” it emphasized. “Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”

In an X post, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the deaths demonstrated “very dramatic violations of the international humanitarian law and the total absence of an effective protection of civilians.”

Meanwhile, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency's staff who were killed had been providing support to families sheltering in the al-Jaouni school.

“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he asserted.

Lazzarini further noted that at least 220 UNRWA employees have been killed during the Israeli offensive on Gaza.

The Israeli military claimed that the school had been used by members of the Hamas resistance group to “plan and execute” attacks against the occupation troops.

However, a survivor said the section of the school that was hit by Israel had been “dedicated only to women.”

“All of a sudden there was a huge explosion … Women and children were blown to pieces. We rushed to see our children but found them torn to pieces,” he told Al Jazeera.

Another survivor said she had lost all of her six children in the Israeli attack, adding, “What crime, what wrong did those innocent children do?”

Israel waged its brutal Gaza offensive on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 41,084 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 95,029 others.

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