Five policemen were injured, two of them seriously, after being attacked by locals at Velim village in South Goa late on saturday night, police said.
District superintendent of police Arvind Gavas said that there was a misunderstanding on the part of the villagers when a police sub inspector and a constable attached to Special Branch were on a visit to the village to take stock of the situation there ahead of the March 3 assembly polls.
It was at the same village a flying squad, at the instance of State Election Commission, had raided premises of the priest a fortnight ago which had angered the locals. The raid had not yielded anything.
Police sub inspector Kapil Naik and a constable were attacked by the crowd when they went to meet priest Fr Romano Gonsalves attached to St Francis Xavier Church.
Eye witnesses said that the crowd was angry at the sight of policemen at the house of the priest and attacked them.
"It was an unprovoked attack. The PSI and constable were unarmed. They had been asked to go around and take stock of the situation in the wake of March 3 polls," Atmaram Deshpande, Superintendent of police, told PTI.
The situation in the village worsened when more policemen arrived at the scene and another PSI and two more policemen attached to Central Reserve Police Force were attacked while a local person was also injured.
{{/usCountry}}The situation in the village worsened when more policemen arrived at the scene and another PSI and two more policemen attached to Central Reserve Police Force were attacked while a local person was also injured.
{{/usCountry}}All the injured were shifted to local hospitals. Two policemen including a sub inspector are reported to be in serious condition.
Gawas said that the situation in the village is now normal even as additional police force has been deployed there.