| 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka | |
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 Districts affected by the attacks. Udupi district Chikkamagaluru district | |
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The 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka were the wave of attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls in the Indian city of Mangalore and the surrounding area of southern Karnataka in September and October 2008 by Hindu nationalist organisations such as Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena. The attacks were widely perceived by Christians in southern Karnataka to be revenge from right-wing Hindu nationalist organisations, because Mangalorean Christians had been outspoken about the 2008 anti-Christian attacks in Orissa.
On 29 August, many groups across India participated in a "prayer for peace and communal harmony" in response to ongoing anti-Christian violence in Orissa. St Aloysius College and around 2000 Christian schools in Karnataka went on strike on 29 August, protesting against the attacks in Orissa. This was in defiance of orders of the government that 29 August was to be a regular work day. The BJP administration of Karnataka denounced local Christian institutions for disobeying orders in response, and a Bajrang Dal demonstration was held outside St Aloysius College. Strikes and protests continued for the next two weeks. The main attacks began on 14 September, when a group of youths from the Bajrang Dal went inside the chapel of Adoration Monastery of the Sisters of St Clare near the Milagres Church in Hampankatta and desecrated it. Some 20 churches, temples, and halls belonging to Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's Witness, and independent Christians were attacked. Christian buildings were damaged across Mangalore taluk, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts. A few Christian institutions were later attacked in Bangalore district and Kasaragod district.
Christians staged counter-protests to the violence. One particularly large one was staged by the Catholics of Karkala deanery on 15 September. Church bells rang across the churches of Mangalore, calling parishioners to respond. The protests led to strong police suppression with lathi charges and tear gas; the police made around 150 arrests and injured 30 to 40 people. Violence broke out at the Adoration Monastery as police began caning the protestors with sticks and firing tear gas, and both sides pelted each other with thrown stones. Between 15 September and 10 October, a new wave of anti-minority attacks began against Christian communities outside Karnataka, as well as against Muslim communities.
The state government denied fault for the attacks and defended the harsh police response. In February 2011, retired Justice MF Saldanha of the Bombay High Court published a report in which he described the attacks as "state-sponsored terrorism" and implicated the government as complicit with Hindu nationalist organisations. The report led to more than 100,000 Christians across multiple denominations protesting again in a silent march in Mangalore on 21 February, with the support of secular organisations. Following the publication of the report and subsequent protests, the Government of Karnataka announced that it would drop 338 criminal cases against Christians who had protested. In December 2011, a further 23 cases against Christians were dropped.