Muslim shopfronts torn down in Mumbai after religious clashes

MUMBAI: Authorities in India's financial capital Mumbai have torn down several Muslim-owned makeshift shopfronts after religious clashes sparked by a divisive Hindu temple that was opened this week by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Minor clashes broke out on Sunday in parts of Mumbai, including one incident where Hindus chanting religious slogans passed through a Muslim neighbourhood on the megacity´s outskirts.

No serious injuries were reported in the melee but by Tuesday, authorities had called in excavators to knock down more than a dozen shopfronts belonging to Muslims in that locality, according to local media reports.

The following evening another 40 shopfronts were knocked down on Mohammed Ali Road, a major downtown thoroughfare and centre of local Muslim commerce that had also seen weekend clashes.

“We were undertaking deep clearing of the road in which some temporary hawkers and so forth were removed,” a local municipal officer, who declined to be named, told AFP on Thursday.

Numerous traders of all faiths often build makeshift shopfronts out of canvas and wood to shield their businesses and patrons from the city´s scorching sun and pounding monsoon rains.

Municipal officials told local media that the campaign was “routine” and planned before Sunday´s clashes, and that it was aimed at clearing illegal encroachments and easing pedestrian traffic.

So-called “bulldozer justice” has been an increasingly common tool of local officials in India to punish suspected criminals by demolishing their property. Rights groups have condemned the practice as an unlawful exercise in collective punishment that disproportionately targets the country´s Muslim minority.

Aaker Patel of Amnesty International said in a statement that this week´s drive in Mumbai represented a “policy of arbitrarily and punitively demolishing Muslim properties following episodes of communal violence”.

Demolition drives have been employed in numerous Indian states ruled by Modi´s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in recent years against the homes of people accused of participating in anti-government protests.