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Hindu-Muslim clashes kill 5, injure 27
Hindu-Muslim clashes broke out overnight in a southern Indian city, killing at least five and injuring 27, officials said Sunday. The trouble began Saturday night after Hindu activists removed a black flag that residents of a Muslim-dominated neighbourhood in Hyderabad put up to protest the destruction of a historic mosque by Hindu extremists 11 years ago. Two people were stabbed to death, while three others were killed as police fired bullets and tear gas to stop the clashes, said Chandrababu Naidu, the elected head of Andhra Pradesh state, of which Hyderabad is the capital. At least 27 people were injured, including 19 from police gunfire, Naidu said. The violence had subsided by Sunday morning after police imposed a curfew in several parts of the city. Earlier Saturday, Hindu groups held peaceful rallies and meetings across the country to celebrate the Dec. 6, 1992, demolition of the 16th-century Babri Mosque in northern India. But the situation in the Sultan Shahi area of Hyderabad became tense by late Saturday, starting with arguments and minor clashes between Hindu and Muslim residents, said K. Vijayarama Rao, the revenue minister of Andhra Pradesh. It escalated after a Hindu mob removed the Muslimsâ protest flag, sparking violence that quickly spread to other areas after midnight, Rao said. The clashes erupted despite heightened security. The mosqueâs destruction in 1992 triggered a year of Hindu-Muslim violence that killed 2,000 people across the country. Hindu groups claim the mosque was built on the site of an earlier Hindu temple honouring the birthplace of their supreme god, Rama, and have pledged to build a temple at the site in the northern city of Ayodhya. About 7,000 Hindu activists, armed with sticks and three-pronged spears, had gathered Saturday in Ayodhya to reaffirm their pledge to build the temple. Tens of thousands of police were deployed in the city and its neighbouring areas to prevent attacks. The spears, often called tridents, are symbols of the Hindu god Shiva. Posted by: Dan Darling 2003-12-08 |
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