Wannabe Indian cops go on rampage

INDIA: Some 17,000 aspiring policemen rampaged through a New Delhi suburb, smashing vehicles and other property and looting food from vendors, after completing a police entry test, a report said Monday.

The mayhem erupted Sunday after the would-be cops finished writing an examination to qualify as police constables, the Times of India reported.

Mobs of young men roamed the streets, hijacking cars and forcing the occupants out, the report said. They also smashed windows, looted food stalls and roughed up shoppers at a Sunday bazaar. One woman was reported to have had her sari nearly ripped off. Police used batons to disperse the young men. "Nobody will be allowed to get away with this lawlessness," said district police chief Piyush Mordia. Police said 28 people were arrested. The unrest was worst near the police headquarters and in front of the district magistrate's office, the report said.

"These people will become gangsters if they do not become policemen," the paper quoted one man who ended up being trapped in the midst of the mob as saying. Newspapers showed pictures of young men waving and smiling for cameras, after knocking down a fence railing.

New Delhi, Tuesday, AFP