UP cleric among 12 detained after 'I Love Muhammad' video sparks massive unrest in Bareilly

Bareilly police clash with protesters carrying 'I Love Muhammad' banners.

A local cleric and chief of Ittehad-e-Millat Council, Tauqeer Raza Khan, whose call for protest supporting the 'I love Muhammad' campaign led to chaos in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly, was among the 12 detained by the UP Police.

According to officials, a huge crowd, which continued to swell, had gathered outside Raza's house after he posted a video in support of the campaign. He is currently being interrogated, officials said, according to a report by NDTV.

Raza is the one who made an announcement postponing the proposed demonstration in support of the ‘I Love Muhammad’ campaign in the city, saying the authorities did not grant permission for it, thus inciting a clash between a large crowd and police outside a mosque.

Earlier on Thursday, the cleric had warned that the demonstration would go ahead at any cost, PTI reported.

The police took more than two dozen people into custody following the clashes.

According to the police, a large crowd carrying ‘I Love Muhammad’ posters and banners had gathered outside the cleric’s residence and near the mosque, both in the Kotwali area and located a short distance from each other, after the Friday prayers.

The police lathi-charged after stones were pelted at them by some protestors in the crowd.

What is the 'I Love Muhammad' campaign?

The controversy broke out on September 9, when police in Kanpur filed an FIR against nine named and 15 unidentified persons for allegedly installing boards with ‘I Love Muhammad’ written on those on a road during a Barawafat procession.

Hindu groups objected to it, calling it “deviation from tradition" and a “deliberate provocation".

The controversy soon spread across several Uttar Pradesh districts and to states like Uttarakhand and Karnataka, sparking protests and police crackdowns.