Shattered windows, ransacked seating areas, the walls stripped of the framed posters of theatrical productions from New York’s Broadway. A stunned silence now inhabits Coffea Arabica, Srinagar’s most famous cafe, after a furious mob vandalised it on Wednesday.

The mob’s immediate provocation was the murder of a 19-year-old youth, Asrar Mushtaq, from Maisuma by still unidentified persons. His body was recovered from a graveyard in the downtown city. Coming in the wake of the mayhem over rape and murder of the two women in Shopian and the killing of four youth by CRPF bullets in Baramulla, the murder worked as fuel to the fire.

The protests broke out in Maisuma and soon went out of control. Though normally confined to the interiors of the city, this time the protesters broke the security barrier and spilled onto the city’s hub, Lal Chowk, and went rampaging on posh Residency Road and soon were all over the Moulana Azad Road, alongside which falls Coffea Arabica, Srinagar’s famous tourist haunt and a retreat for the city’s affluent inhabitants.

The mob broke open the entrance and went in. A stone hit the plate of a French tourist couple. However, tourists, who were hurriedly exited through the backdoor, were not harmed.

Amit Amla, the cafe’s owner makes only guarded comments about the attack. “It happens,” Amla said. “We mainly cater to tourists. I hope it does not affect our business”. The cafe which escaped unscathed from the ravages of militancy has been completely vandalised. The Broadway posters, which formed a ubiquitous motif on the walls, lie broken on the floor amid the toppled tables and chairs.

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