Riots broke out in parts of India, Pakistan and Israel in early April after worshippers defied government orders not to meet at mosques and synagogues for religious services due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In Pakistan, where the government had imposed a three-hour curfew to prevent people gathering for midday prayers, worshippers clashed with police after an imam in Karachi defied the order and used a loudspeaker to call people to prayer, reported The Washington Post. Several people were injured.
Similar violence broke out in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, after police attempted to disburse people who had gathered at a mosque. A police officer was injured, reported The Post. India’s leaders had imposed a three-week lockdown on March 24.
In Israel, most rabbis are abiding by rules temporarily banning in-person religious services, but members of some ultra-Orthodox groups have been defiant and are still meeting. When police attempted to break up the meetings, some Orthodox men threw rocks at them.
