Fifteen policemen, five civic engineers and an equal number of labourers were injured on Thursday after slum dwellers allegedly started pelting stones when the BMC began demolishing alleged encroachments at Jai Bhim Nagar in Powai. Locals claim the police had lathi-charged them first.

Darshan Kamble, a resident of Jai Bhim Nagar, said, “We have been living here for almost 25 years. We have been fighting a case against BMC for a long time. Though it is pending in the Bombay High Court, the BMC issued an eviction notice on June 3 ordering the demolition of our colony.”