Indian struggle for religious structure leads to violence

Baltimore News.Net
Thursday 24th July, 2008

In India, at least three people have been killed and dozens injured when an eviction drive by government officials turned into a communal clash.

The incident occurred when five officials of the district administration, accompanied by the police, went to Ram Park colony in Delhi to evacuate a state-owned land where a religious structure had been built by alleged squatters.

The officials said the structure had been built so the squatters could evade government eviction.

Local clerics warned the officials not to proceed with the eviction drive as it was a religious structure.

When their warning went unheeded they called upon the residents to take up positions and resist the government move.

The situation turned into a free for all as mobs started pelting stones at the police and in some cases even firing upon them.

Part of the large mob jammed traffic on the major Delhi-Saharanpur road while others resorted to arson, setting on fire a police outpost and many public and private vehicles.

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