Thane communal clashes: Here is what happened

January 21 night: In Naya Nagar, violence first flared after a procession of vehicles, including modified bikes with saffron flags, passed in front of Taini villa masjid and Mohammed masjid on Lodha Road. The bikers were said to be shouting religious slogans. Locals said that some of the bikes had modified silencers which emitted a sound that many felt was like a gun being fired. A few locals rushed to see if bullets were being fired towards the masjid and that led to panic with the bikers trying to escape. One of the bikers bumped into a bystander leading to a fight, according to eye witnesses. The incident subsequently escalated with locals assaulting members of the procession. Police have confirmed the same sequence of events behind the first incident. At least 13 people were held in this connection, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

January 22:   Hours later, on Monday evening, two groups were also involved in stone pelting during a procession taken out on the occasion of the Ram temple idol consecration on Mira Road, police said, adding additional forces had to be called in for security. In a video pertaining to the incident, an injured motorist, who was part of Sunday’s Hindu Shobha Yatra, was seen saying that the attackers were armed with swords and knives. From more videos that were shared widely, unknown people were seen vandalising the vehicles with rods, pelting stones at the windscreen and hitting people sitting inside the vehicles. A vehicle was seen attacked by the mob while a few policemen present at the scene were unable to control the situation. The videos could not be individually verified.

January 23: The Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation used bulldozers on Tuesday afternoon to demolish about 15 structures in the Muslim-dominated Haidary Chowk area in Mira Road, where the clashes had broken out.

The BMC undertook demolition of shop extensions at Mohammed Ali Road on Wednesday. Express photo

On January 24, in a similar exercise, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) razed encroachments from around 40 shops on Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai. BMC said that the shops were “illegal encroachments” and were pulled down to free up space on the footpaths. Some of the key commercial entities affected by Wednesday’s drive include Noorani Milk Centre and Suleman Usman Mithaiwala, whose origins date back to the 1930s. There were no reports of any such drive by the civic body in any other ward.

Multiple FIRs filed, 23 detained, questioning underway

In Thane, at least 12 FIRs were filed and nearly 19 people were arrested and four minors detained by the Naya Nagar, Kashi Mira, Navghar Bhayander and Pelhar police stations in connection to the clashes. More people may be arrested soon, police said. The police have also identified 52 objectionable and inflammatory posts on social media and managed to take down 20 of them and are in the process of taking down others. Two FIRs pertain to posting and spreading objectionable content on social media. Police have also placed barricades on entry and exits of key roads at many places, mainly with high Muslim population.