June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

AHMEDABAD, June 3: The refusal by a vendor to sell a soft drink to a boy in Gujarat sparked a communal clash in which three policemen were injured and a house torched, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday night in the town of Visnagar, in Mehsana district, 70kms north of Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main commercial city.

A police spokesman said the clash began when the boy who had been refused a drink returned with a gang of boys belonging to his community and destroyed the kiosk of the vendor, who belonged to another community.

A police inspector and two senior constables were injured while trying to control the rioting mob.

Police said on Tuesday the situation was under control and that police were patrolling the area.

Gujarat was gripped by communal violence for more than three months last year after 59 people were killed when a train compartment was torched.—AFP