59 held for attacking health workers, cops in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Fifty-nine people were arrested in Bengaluru on Monday for attacking health care workers and police officers when they arrived in the Padarayanapura area

Bengaluru: Fifty-nine people were arrested in Bengaluru on Monday for attacking health care workers and police officers when they arrived in the Padarayanapura area to quarantine some individuals, officials said.

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The group of health workers and the police visited the area on Sunday night to shift to quarantine some primary and secondary contacts of people who recently returned from a gathering of Tabligi Jamaat and tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin has been linked to at least 4,000 cases since last month.

The officials planned to shift the contacts of the attendees to designated quarantine zones in order to move them away from the area that has already been declared a containment zone, the police said.

When the team reached the spot, a group of people attacked them after breaking barriers put up to restrict movement in the area, visuals of the incident showed. On Monday morning, the police arrested 59 people over the incident. Home minister Basvaraj Bommai said that five FIRs were registered, including under sections of the National Disaster Management Act.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa condemned the attack and the damage to public property, saying that such acts will not be tolerated. His remark came on a day the Karnataka government decided to extend the complete lockdown over the Covid-19 outbreak, with no relaxations till May 3 across the state. The state previously hinted that it could conditionally lift some restrictions in phases beginning April 20.