Indian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets yesterday to break up a crowd of stone-throwing Hindu activists holding a banned rally in Ayodhya, a flashpoint of Hindu-Muslim tensions.
About 1,500 protesters were arrested -- but state officials said they would free them.
The fighting lasted for a half hour before police managed to bring things under control and take away the Hindu nationalists in buses.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Among those arrested was Ashok Singhal, chief of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a sister group of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"We had to fire rubber bullets and teargas shells after they started throwing stones," police inspector-general V.N. Rai said.
There were no reports of any casualties.
One Hindu mendicant, called a sadhu, stood near the area addressing a small gathering.
"Now is the time for all Hindus to stand up together," he said. "Every Hindu should make a bomb in his home."
The activists were trying to march in support of building a temple over a razed mosque, a dispute that sparked some of India's worst religious riots a decade ago and has been the trigger of more bloodshed since.
Tens of thousands of police have been deployed across sensitive northern states amid fears the call for a rally in Ayodhya could spark trouble elsewhere.
Ayodhya has been largely sealed off to prevent activists entering. Shops were closed and shuttered and the streets largely deserted.
"We have reached here with great difficulty. We will not rest until we get the temple," said one activist, Lalit Chowdhary, as he was led away by police.
A Hindu mob tore down the 16th century Babri mosque on the disputed site in late 1992, triggering some of India's worst religious violence in which about 3,000 people died.
Hardliners believe the site is the birthplace, long before recorded history, of the revered god-king Ram and want to build a huge, multi-storey stone temple.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese