Hindu nationalists have vandalized a movie set depicting a church in the Indian State of Kerala, claiming it offended Hindu sensibilities.

Production on the Malayalam language film “Minnal Murali” had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

The set was destroyed on May 24, with the Hindu nationalist groups Antharashtra Hindu Parishad (AHP) and Bajrang Dal publicly claiming responsibility for the vandalism, saying the set was near a Hindu temple.

“When they were building it, we had said no. We had submitted complaints. We don’t have a habit of pleading, so we decided to demolish it. We have to protect our self-respect,” Hari Palode, the general secretary of the AHP, wrote in a Facebook post featuring photographs of the vandals destroying the set.

On May 25, Kerala police arrested two people in connection with the crime, and filed charges against several others. Kerala is one of the centres of Christianity in India, and Christians make up nearly 20% of the population.