The BJP administration of Karnataka denounced local Christian institutions for disobeying orders in response, and a Bajrang Dal demonstration was held outside St Aloysius College.

The main attacks began on 14 September, when a group of youths from the Bajrang Dal went inside the chapel of Adoration Monastery of the Sisters of St Clare near the Milagres Church in Hampankatta and desecrated it.

In February 2011, retired Justice MF Saldanha of the Bombay High Court published a report in which he described the attacks as "state-sponsored terrorism" and implicated the government as complicit with Hindu nationalist organisations.

It is an offence under the IPC to indulge in any form of communal disharmony but the offensive articles kept regularly appearing in the Press headed by a leading Kannada daily owned by some industrialists from Manipal, particularly after the 1993 Bombay Bomb Blasts and violent incidents in different parts of the country.

[7] St. Aloysius College, a Jesuit institution in Mangalore, and some other 2000 Christian schools in Karnataka, went on strike for varying periods between 29 August and 5 September prior to the attacks, protesting against anti-Christian persecution in Orissa, contrary to the orders of the government who stated that they were to be regular work days.

[9] A Christian institution in Shimoga had reportedly received a notice from the education ministry of Karnataka during the strike saying, "The VHP and Bajrang Dal have conducted a protest against the closure of schools and criticised your action.

[9] Another explanation is that the attacks were an angry response by Bajrang Dal over the allegations that the New Life Fellowship Trust were indulging in forceful religious conversion of Hindus and distribution of vulgar literature slandering Hindu gods and goddesses.

[13] In the book Satyadarshini, written by Andhra Pradesh Pastor Paravastu Suryanarayana Rao, it was alleged that New Life Fellowship Trust had denigrated and defamed Hindu gods, causing anger amongst the Bajrang Dal.

[20] They entered the monastery and attacked it with lathis, desecrating the tabernacle and the Eucharist, the 15 feet (5 m) high golden coloured monstrance (regarded by the nuns as the most sacred object in the church[21]), a crucifix, the oil lamps, the vases on the altar, and a few statues of saints.

[22] Around the same time, a group of 30 to 35 people on motorbikes wearing masks attacked the empty Church of South India building at Kodaikal, armed with iron pipes, cricket stumps and sticks, shouting pro-Bajrang Dal slogans.

[20] Police reports confirmed that Our Lady's Grotto at Vijayamarie Technical Institute and properties at the Infant Jesus Higher Primary School and Mary Hill Convent were also damaged by the miscreants on the night of 14 September.

[26][27] Later, during the early morning hours of 15 September, individuals broke into the St. George Church belonging to the Syro Malabar Catholic Rite of the Belthangady Diocese in Ujire, Dakshina Kannada district, 70 km from Mangalore and burned the Bible, the carpet, prayer books and desecrated holy icons.

[28] Seven or eight masked men arriving on scooters were reported to have desecrated the large statue of St. Antony at St. Ann's Friary on Jail Road in Bejai, throwing flower pots to smash the glass covering.

[27] Other areas affected by the attacks include Kalkanady, Falnir, Madyanthar, Makodu, Singatagere, Jayapura, Shaktinagar, Thokottu, Bantwal, Belthangady, Udupi, Kulur, Kundapura, Karkala, Koppa, Balehanoor and Moodbidri.

[47] The district administration responded by declaring a holiday for all educational institutions in Mangalore taluk, and extended prohibitory orders under the Section 144 Criminal Procedure Code for two more days in the wake of the attacks and protests as a precaution.

"[61] Mahendra Kumar, the former state convener of the Bajrang Dal, claimed that he was incarcerated for 42 days in Mangalore before being released on conditional bail by Karnataka High Court Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri on 25 October 2008, and was used as a scapegoat by the BJP regime to "save the government from further embarrassment after the church attacks and on instructions from the Sangh Parivar leaders.

[51] The Udupi district Congress committee submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha, demanding that the state government initiate legal action and punish the culprits of the attacks.

The Home Ministry advised the Karnataka government to do all it could in its power to prevent the recurrence of the attacks and to restore faith in the authorities in the region, asking for them to strongly suppress violence and vandalism and to punish the offenders.

[73] Senior BJP leader L. K. Advani, during his two-day visit to Assam and Meghalaya, denounced the attacks in Orissa and Karnataka, saying," I strongly condemn these acts of violence and vandalism.

[75] Deve Gowda wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking for him to impose a "blanket ban" on the Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena in the wake of the attacks, remarking that it "would send a categorical message across the world that secular India will not tolerate fascism, fanaticism and fundamentalism of any colour or kind.

[77] "The church and the entire Christian community not only in Karnataka but all over India and even abroad is terribly angry and upset at the desecration of its sacred places, especially the blessed sacrament in the sanctum sanctorum, which is the Living Body of Christ.

The Bishop of Mangalore Diocese Aloysius Paul D'Souza stated that Christians were "deeply hurt" over the desecration of the Holy Cross and Sacred Sacrament in the Adoration monastery.

[80] Joseph Dias, General Secretary of the Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), visited most of the churches attacked in Karnataka during the event and said: "The vested political and economic interests are hitting back with vengeance.

The Church's education, healthcare and social services in these backward areas has empowered the weak, poor and deprived vested interests of vote banks and cheap labour.

The emancipation through education, healthcare, awareness of alternatives and provision of opportunities have set the oppressed classes free from the clutches of the upper caste or rich Hindus and slavery of their political masters.

But the saffron brigade raises this bogey, since in believes in Geobbels's (Nazi Propaganda Chief Joseph Goebbels) [sic] principle of repeating a lie umpteen times, so that it will stick.

[95] An investigation in the Udupi district headed by Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), failed to discover any evidence of forced conversion.

[96] An initial report by a committee, composed of some 17 human rights activists from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka and Maharashtra, which formed to look into the violence in Mangalore, stated that the attacks were carried out by the Bajrang Dal and the Sri Ram Sena.

"[106] The report—which cost around ₹30 million and took over 28 months, 300 sittings, and 800 pieces of recorded evidence to be realised—concluded that the district authorities and the police had, in most cases, taken the "appropriate steps regarding the Church and the people including the required protection.

"[114] On 17 February 2011, Ronald Colaco, Chairman of IFKCA and Higher Education Minister V. S. Acharya submitted a memorandum to Yeddyurappa, demanding that the cases filed against Christian youths be dropped.