16 Sep 2008, 0329 hrs IST,TNN
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/BANGALORE: As mob attacks on churches, that started in Davangere, continued in Karnataka, violence crossed the state border and communal tension gripped Kasargode district in Kerala where Hindu mobs protesting conversions attacked a missionary-run kindergarten school that doubled as a church.
Jaya Mata Convent School at Kottakkani was targeted by as yet unidentified
miscreants. But, coming on the heels of the attacks on churches at Davangere,
the role of radical Hindu outfits was obvious.
"Since St Joseph's Church here is being renovated, the idol of Mother Mary was
shifted to the KG school managed by the church. Mass was being held there. On
Monday morning, we saw the glasspanes of a box containing the figure of Mother
Mary, as well as window panes of the school, smashed. It seemed someone had
hurled stones," Vicar Antony Punnoor told TOI on phone. The attack, he said,
might have taken place in the night.
A signboard of the makeshift church, which falls under the Teleicherry diocese,
was also destroyed, the Vicar said. He refused to blame any group. Asked if he
found a pattern in the attack after the violence in neighbouring Karnataka,
Punnoor said, "I can't say anything categorically without evidence."
Police have registered a case. "We are yet to trace the culprits. But we aren't
taking chances and security at churches in the district has been tightened
keeping in view the disturbance in Karnataka," Kasargode SP Ramadas Pothan said.
Kerala home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the incident would be probed.
"Cops would also examine if the attack had any link with such incidents in
Karnataka. No one will be allowed to create communal riots in the state."
In Karnataka, sporadic violence at some places in Mangalore marked protests by
Christians against vandalizing of prayer halls in the district. Members of the
Christian community gathered in all the 158 churches in the Mangalore Diocese on
Monday morning. At six churches, there was violence after they clashed with
miscreants who abused them and threw stones at religious structures. Police
fired teargas shells to disperse the mobs.
The skirmishes took place in Kulshekar and Bejai. At Kulshekar, protesters and
miscreants threw stones at each other. Police were caught in the melee. Some
police vehicles were damaged. Eyewitnesses said a crowd rushed into church
premises after the police opened the gates to cane the stone-throwing protesters
inside. The crowd, comprising women, children, the aged and youngsters, rushed
into the church. There was a virtual siege for four hours, with police demanding
that church authorities send the culprits out. At Bejai, violence broke out when
miscreants stoned the grotto at the Capucchin Friary and smashed the glass
panel.
Violence spread to Chikkab llapur, Kolar district, with miscreants reportedly
damaging a church at Chikkakadenahalli. Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa in
Mangalore said acts of people taking law into their hands won't be tolerated.
Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Conversion_fire_spreads_to_Kerala/articleshow/3487282.cms
Date: Tuesday September 16, 2008