Muslims across India on Friday continued protests sparked by comments from a now-suspended spokeswoman for the ruling Hindu-nationalist BJP party that were denounced as insulting to Islam’s Muhammad.
The Times of India (TOI) reported that “vehicles were torched and vandalized, and sporadic incidents of sloganeering and stone-pelting” were reported from several locations.
TOI said a few police officers were injured “while controlling an angry mob near Hanuman Temple in Ranchi,” while former BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma was hanged in effigy near a vegetable market in Belagavi.
According to the Hindustan Times, as of noon on Friday, 11 police officers and 12 protesters had been injured in Ranchi. Six more people were injured in Jharkhand, one of them with a bullet injury. Over 100 arrests were reported in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP members were angered by the mock hanging, denouncing it as a threat of violence against Sharma and demanding the police take it down.
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