May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

JODHPUR, May 24: The death toll in two days’ of clashes between police and an ethnic group demanding special government aid in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan has gone up to 31, a minister said on Saturday.

While 16 people were killed on Friday, another 15 died on Saturday as the unrest spread, Rajasthan state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told reporters in the provincial capital Jaipur.

Another dozen people were injured in the protests by thousands from the local Gujjar community, who want the government to classify them as “Scheduled Tribes” entitled to government jobs and education benefits.

“On Saturday, police fired on protesters who turned violent and set fire to a police station in the afternoon,” Kataria said.

“In the police firing, 15 people were killed,” he said, noting that extra security personnel had been rushed to the affected areas to restore order.

Authorities have restricted people from gathering in large numbers in 11 of the state’s 32 districts to quell the protests, Kataria said.

The Gujjars, traditionally shepherds who make up about five per cent of Rajasthan’s population, called off massive protests last year after the government promised to form a panel to study their case.

The panel rejected their demand to be included in the category but recommended the formation of another board to give them special assistance.

The 2007 unrest claimed 28 lives. —AFP