India, Jan. 8 -- The events of at central Delhi's Turkman Gate unfolded quickly overnight, with stone pelting by some local residents triggering a lathi charge and tear-gas shelling by the police, ending finally Wednesday morning with the arrest of five people. By this time, authorities had razed a banquet hall, a private diagnostics centre and a room where Haj pilgrims stayed, portions of a road, a footpath, and a car park.

The developments began on Tuesday, around 3:30pm, when the high court issued notice a notice to the MCD and other requisite agencies in a petition by the managing committee of Masjid Syed Elahi challenging the MCD's decision to remove the encroachments, abutting the century-old mosque.The mosque committee contended t...