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| Saturday, 9 November 2002 |
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16 injured in violence in riot-scarred Gujarat state AHMEDABAD, Friday (AFP) At least 16 people were iured in communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat where sectarian riots earlier this year killed more than 1,000 people, police said Thursday. Trouble began Wednesday when Muslims protested against Hindus lighting firecrackers in the Jamaalpura area of Gujarat's commercial capital of Ahmedabad on the occasion of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, a police spokesman said. On Thursday, the rioting spread to the sensitive Gomtipur district of the city where some 400 people clashed, leaving around 10 of them injured, additional police commissioner Satish Verma said. He said police also fired rifles and used batons to beat back the rioters in Gomtipur and added that a number of private cars had been damaged in t late Thursday brawl. Though Diwali was celebrated all over the country on Monday, festivities generally start some days before the festival and carry on for a few days. On Wednesday evening a heated exchange of words developed into a riot with both sides throwing stones and indulging in arson, gutting shops, houses and vehicles, Verma said. "Many vehicles were damaged and there was also stone-pelting. The police had to fire 16 rounds and 97 tear gas shells to control the rioting mob," he said. "Even though thesituation is under control, we have deployed extra security forces in the sensitive areas of Ahmedabad," Verma added. He said the police were "taken aback" by the eruption of violence in the area, but were keeping extra vigil as Thursday marks the beginning of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in India. Sporadic rioting has plagued Gujarat since February after 58 Hindus were burnt alive in a train near Godhra about over 150 kilometres (94 miles) here. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the subsequent violence. |
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