COCHIN (India) Dec 10: Police fired in the air to control a crowd in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Monday where Hindus and Muslims clashed.

A general strike by Hindu groups protesting what they said were Muslim attacks on a Hindu pilgrimage to a shrine in Kerala last week, turned violent after some protesters stoned state-run buses and set fire to shops, police said.

Seven policemen suffered injuries in Pathanmthitta district on Monday, the same area where the protesters say pilgrims going to the Sabarimala hill shrine were attacked on Dec 6. The date is also the anniversary of the destruction of Babri mosque nine years ago.

“Police had to use rubber bullets in four places to contain (an) unruly and violent mob and attacks on policemen and vehicles have been rampant,” state police chief Walter Joseph Dawson said.

Hindus and Muslims clashed in Ommassery in Calicut district forcing the police to fire in the air, Mohammed Yasin deputy inspector general of police said.

Most shops, schools and colleges were shut across Kerala in response to the strike called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which leads the federal coalition.

“It was a controlled emotional response of the people on the attack on the Sabarimala pilgrims,” said P.P.Mukandan, general secretary of the BJP.

Hindus make up the majority of the population in Kerala, but Muslims and Christians account for about 20 percent.—Reuters