uttarakhand

Officer Joshi, deployed in Haldwani, stated that all roads were blocked because the rioters burned down all vehicles parked near the roads.

This was, however, not the first time that tensions have flared in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Radical Islamists have targeted this place earlier too

According to reports, rioters extracted petrol from motorcycles parked on the roads and used it to make petrol bombs for the Haldwani attack

The journalist further added that the colony where the demolition exercise was undertaken is illegal. He said that action taken by the authorities against the illegally constructed madarsa-mosque on government land was in compliance with the Uttarakhand High Court order.

A picture of Ajay, undergoing treatment in a hospital in the aftermath of the attack, has gone viral on social media.

Haldwani violence: Police station completely damaged by the mob, CCTV footage being used to identify rioters and stone pelters

The violence against police officials by a rioting mob left more than three hundred police officials injured in Haldwani

"It was planned that when the demolition drive will be held, we will attack the forces and we will try to demoralise the state machinery," the DM said.

On Thursday the Uttarakhand High Court refused to grant relief to a PIL seeking stay of demolition of illegal madarsa and mosque in Haldwani

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Haldwani has been engulfed in protests and violence over government action against illegal encroachments. In January last year, a massive protest had erupted in Haldwani over the issue of the removal of encroachment from the land owned by the Indian Railways.