Posters slamming French President Emmanuel Macron for defending the rights to publish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) surfaced in Mumbai on Thursday.
This came a day after India expressed solidarity with France after a teacher was beheaded and French President Emanuel Macron was subjected to personal attacks, reports Hindustan Times.
Although Mumbai Police removed the posters from Mohammad Ali road by Friday afternoon, Videos of people walking, cars driving on the posters have been circulating on social media.
Reports said the Raza Academy, a Muslim organization, was behind the protest.
The Indian ministry of external affairs issued an official statement condemning the killing of a French teacher and personal attacks on Macron. “We strongly deplore the personal attacks in unacceptable language on President Emmanuel Macron in violation of the most basic standards of international discourse,” the ministry said.
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French Prez Macron's posters stuck on Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar road, later removed by cops#FrenchPresident #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/OwhgEqnkrz
“We also condemn the brutal terrorist attack that took the life of a French teacher in a gruesome manner that has shocked the world. There is no justification for terrorism for any reason or under any circumstance,” it also added.
On Thursday, a knife-wielding Tunisian man shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in the French city of Nice before being shot and taken away by police.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks and supported France’s stance in the fight against terrorism.
“I strongly condemn the recent terrorist attacks in France, including today’s heinous attack in Nice inside a church. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and the people of France. India stands with France in the fight against terrorism,” PM Modi tweeted on Thursday.
The Nice attack came as fears of Islamist violence were already running high, just two weeks after a French teacher was beheaded in a street near his school in a Paris suburb.
The teacher, Samuel Paty, angered some parents by showing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed to students as part of a lesson on free speech.
France, with Europe's largest Muslim community, has suffered a string of Islamist militant attacks in recent years, including bombings and shootings in 2015 in Paris that killed 130 people and a 2016 attack in Nice in which a militant drove a truck through a seafront crowd celebrating Bastille Day, killing 86.
