Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP)
Kasargod, Aug 19: The attack on the Lady of Mercy Church at Manjeshwar on the wee hours of Monday, has led to a mass outrage.
While police suspect that the church has been attacked by the miscreants who are involved in the sand mafia, people believe that a religious place has been attacked with an intention to disrupt communal harmony in the region.
A gang involved in sand mafia had entered a house on Sunday evening and damaged items in the house and assaulted the inmates in it.
On wee hours of Monday, two men arrived on a bike at around 3.20 am. The entire episode captured on CCTV camera shows a masked man, wielding a deadly weapon jumping over the compound wall of the church and pelting stones at the windows and doors of the church.
In a move showcasing solidarity, hundreds of people belonging to different religions and communities, reached the spot soon after getting the information on the attack. Vorkady church parish priest Fr Francis Rodrigues, Kommangala church parish priest Fr Melwyn and other priests at the Lady of Mercy Church. Parish priest Fr Valerian Menezes briefed them about the incident.
Several political leaders and other leaders arrived and assured their support. Political party leaders Harshad Varkady, A K M Ashraf, K Srikanth, K R Jayananda, advocate M S Thomas D’ Souza, Catholic Sabha deanery president Raju Stephan D’Souza and others visited the church.