"My Hands Are Trembling..."

The violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa grows in intensity; now the mobs have taken to attacking the police who try to shield Christians from further assault, burning police headquarters inbetween their torching of churches.


The police and state authorities seem completely incapable of maintaining any kind of order in that region. Yet, lawlessness is not an isolated occurence in India these days.


This week Noida [the "New Okhla Industrial Development Area"] saw a shocking story of absolute anarchy, right in the shadow of the nation's capital city of Delhi: an overwhelmed police force did little to contain an enraged mob of 200 former factory workers as they launched an attack on the plant that had employed them:

According to Graziano employees, the sacked workers rushed into the premises around 12:20 pm when the gates were opened to let in a car. "They smashed each one of the approximately 20 cars inside the compound. Hearing the commotion, our CEO, Lalit Kishore Chaudhary, came out to the building entrance. He was abused while trying to reason with the protesters. And, when he objected, they beat him to death with a hammer," said production supervisor, Udaivir.

... The violence left at least 50 executives and workers of the unit injured. Of the 44 staffers taken to hospital, 34 of them were yet to be discharged until Monday night. Of these, 10 executives of the company remained in the intensive care unit.
...
The unit also sustained heavy damage in the vandalism that followed. Five Italian technical consultants, who were visiting the unit, barely managed to escape injuries. Some of them had to plead with the raiders to spare them.
...
Shockingly, despite several Graziano officials phoning up a number of Noida police officials about the violence, only two police constables arrived at the spot after an hour. And, even at 3:30 pm, as the unit's security personnel and some other employees shut themselves up in the unit, only about half a dozen Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel were posted outside. And, there was no officer with them. Which meant that, in case of an emergency, there was nobody there to order any action. And, this was the state of affairs with the district reserve police lines being located half a kilometre away.
...
The bloodstained hammer, which was allegedly used to kill Chaudhary, was found lying in the premises, and had surprisingly not been seized by the police as evidence.
...
In the company guesthouse, visiting Italian technical consultant, Forettii Gatii, told TOI , "I just locked my room's door from inside. And I prayed they would not break in. See, my hands are trembling even three hours later."