There have been multiple incidents of mobs vandalising Christmas decorations in India ahead of the festival, according to local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian Express<\/em> has reported that a mob, armed with wooden sticks, vandalised Christmas decorations and installations at a mall in the Raipur city of India\u2019s Chhattisgarh state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report<\/a> also mentioned that the incident took place on the same day when a Hindu organisation, Sarva Hindu Samaj, had called a Chhattisgarh bandh \u2014 a form of protest \u2014 against alleged religious conversions. According to The Hindu<\/em>, the protest was also called following clashes over the \u201cburial of a person from a converted family\u201d in the Kanker district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indian Express<\/em> carried an account of the incident as narrated by an employee of the mall, who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAround 80-90 people barged in [\u2026] we were supporting the protest. For the last 16 years, since we began operations here, we have always supported bandh calls. But I have never seen such behaviour. The mob threatened us [\u2026] shouted at us. They indulged in violence,\u201d the report quoted the employee as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another employee, who also spoke anonymously to The Indian Express<\/em>, said: \u201cSome women were crying \u2026 they (the mob) were charging at all those who were trying to stop them. They kept saying we do not want to see Santa. People who had come to watch movies got scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos, that were said to be of the incident that took place at Magneto Mall, were also circulating on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separately, The Hindu<\/em> reported that members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal \u2014 which has been classified<\/a> as a Hindu militant organisation by the US Central Intelligence Agency \u2014 vandalised a school, disrupting Christmas preparations, in the Nalbari district of Assam on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hindu<\/em>\u2019s report<\/a>, citing police, said Bajrang Dal members also damaged festival items at shops in Assam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It further quoted an unidentified police official as saying that Bajrang Dal members also staged a protest against Christmas celebrations in Nalbari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe activists entered the St Mary\u2019s School of Panigaon village and vandalised the preparation of the Christmas Day programme. They burnt down the banner and posters of the celebration,\u201d the official said, according to The Hindu<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was further quoted as saying that Bajrang Dal activists had raised the slogan of \u201cJai Shree Ram\u201d and warned the administration against celebrating Christmas at the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey then went to various shops selling Christmas goods in Nalbari town and set fire to some items in front of the shops near the Jain Mandir in the town,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Hindu<\/em> reported that Bajrang Dal members also burned goods at shops selling Christmas items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report also carried a statement by Bajrang Dal Nalbari District Secretary Bhaskar Deka, who said while speaking to the media that \u201cwe don\u2019t want Christian festivals here. Trade in any festival-related items of Indian origin. But we do not accept doing business with a festival of non-Indian origin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n