Tension, violence in Gandhinagar over social media post; 60 people detained

Gandhinagar: Police detained about 60 people from Bahiyal village of Dehgam block in Gandhinagar district for hurling stones and damaging several shops and vehicles on Wednesday night following an objectionable social media post.

The clash broke out after a youth put up a social media post reacting to the trending 'I Love Muhammad' campaign. Assistant superintendent of police Ayush Jain told ET that a youth in the village had put up a post asking people to trend "I love Mahadev" in response to the ongoing campaign. "However, his post contained something derogatory about the minority community that enraged the people, who went to his house to protest," he said. While they couldn't find the youth at his residence, the protestors, on their way back, vandalised some shops and vehicles and set fire to them. This was followed by stone pelting by both sides near the village garba venue. The intense stone pelting also resulted in injuries to some policemen who were the first responders to the incident.