MANGALURU: The 'under fire' Mangaluru police have released videos of protesters vandalizing public properties on their social media accounts on Monday night and the same clips are now being circulated on other platforms.
At least a dozen videos and telephonic conversations have been released on various social media platforms showing the other side of the protests.
The videos clearly show the protesters, some of them covering their face, pelting stones, blocking roads and even damaging CCTVs. Besides videos, abusive audio clips were also released by the police.
A senior police official said that the videos were procured from the general public after the city police commissioner P S Harsha had requested the public to share evidence of rioting in Mangaluru.
"Though social media users hit back at the police for their action, the police have now got enough videos to show that the protest went violent. Depending on the footage, cases will be filed against those involved in vandalism," said the officer.
"We have collected CCTV footage and more violent videos are emerging. Several protesters have called different police stations and abused officers," he said.
Muslim forums and anti-CAA-NRC organisations in Mangaluru have come down heavily on the police for showing one-sided footage.
"The police triggered violence in the first place. If there was no lathi-charge, the crowd would have maintained peace. But the police began charging the crowd without any warning that led to violence. On the one hand, the police commissioner asked senior Muslim leaders to pacify the crowd and on the other hand, firing was also ordered," said a Muslim leader from Mangaluru.
Mangaluru firing state-sponsored and pre-planned: Congress
Coming down heavily on the state government, Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao alleged that the Mangaluru police firing was state-sponsored and pre-planned.
Holding PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah responsible for the death of protesters across the country, he noted that most of the deaths have occurred in the BJP-ruled states.
"This shows how the state machinery was involved in the violence. When Bengaluru can handle over a lakh protesters without any untoward incident, why the Mangaluru police could not handle a few hundred protesters," he asked.