Muslims, Hindus clash over razed mosque
Associated Press
SANVODEM, India
- Hundreds of Hindu protesters rampaged through a
town in the coastal state of Goa on Saturday, storming a police
station, beating officers, looting Muslim shops and burning
vehicles and buildings.
Five people, including three police officers, were wounded as
officers with batons tried to repel rioters. The protesters were
demanding the release of 37 men arrested during three days of
violent Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked when suspected Hindu
extremists destroyed a mosque in Sanvodem.
The protesters beat officers and bombarded them with rocks,
said police superintendent Satkhar Prabhubesai.
Several men could be seen stealing a policeman's gun after
beating him unconscious with stones and sticks.
An overturned car lay in a pile of debris in front of the
police station.
The protesters left the police station Saturday after Hindu
politicians intervened to secure the release of the 37 men.
Relations between India's Hindus and minority Muslims are
uneasy and often flare into violence: On Friday a Muslim protest
in the northern city of Lucknow against a visit by President
Bush turned into a Muslim-Hindu riot in which four people were
shot dead.
But religious clashes in Goa, a former Portuguese colony and
one of India's premier tourist attractions, are rare.
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