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Indian protesters clash with police over rape case
[LA Times] Thousands of people demonstrated outside the Indian president's residence in New Delhi on Saturday, breaching barricades and clashing with police over the brutal rape of a 23-year-old girl before authorities drove them back with sticks, tear gas and water cannons.Public anger has been building all week since the attack last Sunday in which six men in a private bus allegedly picked up the victim, a medical student, and her 28-year-old male friend as they headed home about 9 p.m. after watching "Life of Pi" at a multiplex theater. The pair thought they were boarding a normal commuter bus when the men, who were on a joy ride, allegedly beat them with metal rods and raped her for 30 minutes as the vehicle drove around the city and passed several police posts before dumping the pair by the side of the road. The bus had curtains and tinted windows, which are illegal but not uncommon in New Delhi. Six men have been arrested in the case, including the bus driver, his brother, a gym instructor and a fruit seller, and face charges of kidnapping, gang rape, unnatural offenses and robbery. Three of the six have reportedly confessed. Indian media reported that one of those held, the brother of the driver, was assaulted by other inmates at Tihar Jail before officials separated him from others at the facility. Protesters on Saturday, the sixth and most violent day of demonstrations, chanted "We want justice" and carried signs reading "Kill the rapists!" "Hang them now" and "Stop the shame." More than 30 demonstrators and 35 police officials were injured, according to media reports, as protesters threw stones and broke the windows of a public bus. Police said four subway stations near the government district would be closed Sunday in a bid to control crowds and keep people from the area. Posted by: Fred 2012-12-23 |
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