The mob approaches the church in the midday hours.

The attackers carry sticks over their shoulders.

There are men with scarves around their necks and women in colorful saris.

They rush towards the church of a local Catholic community in India.

The attack is partially captured on videos that journalists are sharing on social media.

People raise their sticks and start hitting objects in front of the building.

On a video, a man hammers a Marian figure with a wooden board.

The statue, which stands on a plinth in front of a kind of grotto wall, breaks in two above the hip with the second hit.

With each subsequent hit, splinters fly around and clay dust trickles down.

Till Fähnders

Political correspondent for Southeast Asia.

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According to the authorities, several people, including some police officers, were injured in the attack on the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Narayanpur district on Monday.

The district is located in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

“We had appealed to them to protest peacefully.

But some chose to use violence and attacked the church," police chief Sadanand Kumar said later at a hospital.

He himself was injured with a blow to the head from behind.

The battle with the police can also be followed in a video.

The police beat the mob with sticks.

An officer holds his bloody head.

A field of rubble remains in the church: a destroyed altar cross, overturned church furniture, torn cloths.

The church, which was renovated five years ago, was completely destroyed from the inside, says parish priest Jomon Devasia.

"We didn't provoke anyone.

The mob just ran into the church grounds and desecrated it.”

In the weeks before, there had been attacks on Christians in Narayanpur and in the neighboring district of Kondagaon.

They are accused of converting more and more of the indigenous tribesmen living there, the so-called Adivasi, to Christianity.

Fear of such "illegal" conversions, which are carried out under duress, fraud and bribery, is spread in India above all by extremist Hindu groups.

Chased out of houses with bamboo sticks and metal poles

The PTI news agency reports on Tuesday that five people have already been arrested, including a representative of the local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

It is the party of Hindu nationalists, which also includes India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the BJP said it had nothing to do with the rally that preceded the attack.

About 2,000 people attended the gathering, the majority of them also Adivasi.

They spoke out against the adoption of other faiths by the tribesmen.

By this they meant above all Christianity and Islam, which the Hindu nationalists see as foreign religions.

According to another reading, it was an internal dispute between two different groups among the Adivasi.

The traditionalists therefore feared that too many people would turn away from their animistic religion.

The Christian Adivasi no longer participated in traditional festivals such as weddings, funerals and harvest celebrations.

However, most reports assume that extremist Hindus are behind the attacks.

Observers even speak of an organized campaign to convert Adivasi to Hinduism.

Some villagers were forced to give up their Christian faith.

The latest attack is not an isolated case in India.

Christian organizations have seen a sharp increase in such attacks since the BJP took power in New Delhi and most regions.

More and more states are passing tough anti-conversion laws, including Chhattisgarh.

In 2021, the state had the second most attacks on Christians.

In Narayanpur before Christmas there were more attacks on Christians.

1,000 people fled from 14 villages in the district and 15 villages in the neighboring district of Kondagaon.

They stayed in a sports stadium.

There they said they were chased out of their homes with bamboo sticks and metal poles.