AYODHYA, Oct 17: Simmering tensions erupted into violence on Friday in Ayodhya as police prevented Hindu activists from staging a rally on the ruins of the Babri mosque.
Police fired rubber bullets and teargas at a mob of zealots attempting to break a security cordon.
Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had been collecting here in defiance of a ban, to participate in a rally on the ruins of the 16th century mosque.
Trouble began soon after a trainload of about 1,000 activists arrived in Ayodhya on Friday morning. They were taken by police to the Karsewakpuram, an open complex used for meetings, for an “organized arrest”.
However, as police began making arrests, the activists attacked them with iron rods and stones.
The zealots then locked themselves behind the iron gates of the complex and climbed on the roof of a building, from where they began throwing stones at the policemen.
The trouble subsided after about an hour with the arrest of top VHP leader Ashok Singhal and several of his followers.
“Five rounds of rubber bullets were fired in the air,” said inspector-general of police V.K. Rai, who was slightly injured in the stone-pelting.
“We wanted it to be done peacefully. Had these people not thrown stones and bricks, we would not have taken any action,” he said.
After the arrests, the activists were taken away in buses to various jails and the Karsewakpuram complex was vacated.
Elsewhere, about 1.5 kilometres away from the site of the ruins, a group of about 20 Hindu militants burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
They shouted slogans demanding that the prime minister hand over the site of the destroyed mosque to them so that a temple can be built.
Ayodhya was flooded with some 10,000 security personnel who were on duty to prevent the rally, which is banned by a court order.
The Babri mosque was demolished in 1992. The demolition sparked nationwide riots in which 2,000 people were killed.
After the demolition, the Hindus erected a makeshift temple before a court ordered that the status quo be maintained — essentially preventing both Hindus and Muslims from taking over the site.
Since the court order, Hindus have only been allowed to visit the temple in small groups, while no public meeting or slogan-shouting is allowed anywhere near the site whose future is being decided by the courts.
“In no way will we allow them to hold the meeting,” district magistrate J.P. Sharma said.
“We will allow them to go and visit the shrine in buses under police supervision and in groups of 10 to maintain the status quo ordered by the court. They will also not be allowed to (shout slogans). If they do, we will arrest them.”—AFP
AYODHYA, Oct 17: Simmering tensions erupted into violence on Friday in Ayodhya as police prevented Hindu activists from staging a rally on the ruins of the Babri mosque.
