Bareilly: Twelve people were booked here in Aonla for clashing with police and pelting them with stones over the removal of a statue of BR Ambedkar installed allegedly on government land, police said on Monday.
The incident happened in Sahukara area under the Sirauli Police Station, where some people erected a statue of Ambedkar Sunday night, allegedly on government land.
When police reached the spot Monday morning after getting a complaint, some locals, largely women, confronted them, police said.
Police lobbed tear gas shells to control the situation, and booked 12 people in connection with the clash, they said.
When the information reached them, SDM Ved Prakash Mishra and Circle Officer (CO) Ajay Kumar Gautam reached Sirauli Police Station, where Bhim Army leader Vipin Sagar also came and discussed the matter.
The authorities decided to remove the statue saying they cannot allow the statue on government land.
When police went to the spot to have the statue removed, they were met with stiff resistance from people, and had to call in reinforcements from several other police stations to control the situation.
As soon as the panchayat started removing the statue, women present at the spot became more agitated and started pelting stones at the police and attacked them with sticks, the Circle Officer said.
Ultimately, police took the statue to the police station in a pickup vehicle.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rajkumar Agrawal said some people tried to spoil the atmosphere over the issue but the administration removed the statue by working in a restrained manner.
The plinth on top of which the statue was installed too was removed, the SP said.
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