Western India's caste rioting kills 37, injures 70

INDIA: Authorities invited leaders of one of India's lowest castes for talks as the death toll rose to 37 Sunday from three days of bloody demonstrations over caste classification.

Police repeatedly opened fire on violent protests by the Gujjar community on Friday and Saturday in half a dozen villages and towns in western Rajasthan state.

The Gujjars are seeking to reclassify their caste to a lower level, which would allow them to qualify for government jobs and university places reserved for such groups. Twenty-one people were killed in clashes on Saturday, Rohit Kumar Singh, the state information commissioner, said Sunday. No immediate response came from the Gujjars after the state government's offer of negotiations, he said.

Police in Sikandra town fired at protesters who torched a police station and two buses Saturday and shot and wounded a policeman, said Amanjit Singh Gill, Rajasthan's director-general of police. Protesters also burned down a police station in the nearby village of Chandra Guddaji, Gill said.

Jaipur, Sunday, AP