A clash broke out on Saturday between officials conducting a sealing drive on illegally operating scrap units and local dealers in Mayapuri area of Delhi. Nearly 15 officials sustained injuries as the locals allegedly hurled stones at them, PTI reported.

“On Saturday morning, a team of local bodies, police and para military, had gone to the Mayapuri area to seal tyre factories,” an unidentified police official told PTI. “The locals started pelting stones at them following which, 12 to 15 officials suffered minor injuries and were sent to the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital.”

The police has registered a case in connection with the incident and an investigation has been initiated.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused police officials of beating up the locals in the area. Sharing a video on Twitter purportedly showing the clashes between police officials and locals, he said if Delhi had full statehood, the state government would have stopped the sealing drive within 24 hours. The chief minister claimed that in five years, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre has been very unfair to the traders.

“It is shameful to beat up Delhi’s traders like this,” Kejriwal said on Twitter. “Traders have always supported the BJP with their votes and money. But the BJP, in return, has sealed their shops and baton charged them...The BJP is sending a clear message that they do not want the support of these traders.”

Meanwhile, the BJP blamed the city administration for conducting the sealing drive on the day of Ram Navami and Baisakhi. “We have written a letter to the Election Commission of India, requesting that sealing in Delhi be stopped till the completion of the Lok Sabha elections,” Tiwari told the Hindustan Times. “It needs to stop because this is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct according to Article 324 of the Constitution. The sealing order was issued by CM Kejriwal to defame the BJP and help AAP in the General Elections. Moreover, they carried out the drive on a festival.”