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.
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