AHMEDABAD, 10 September 2003 — Hindus and Muslims clashed yesterday during a popular Hindu festival in India’s tense Gujarat state, leaving 38 injured in police firing and mob violence, police said.
The violence began in three towns across Gujarat as hundreds of Hindus marched through Muslim-dominated areas in processions at the end of a week of festivities.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in riots in Gujarat last year after Muslims burned down a train car killing some 60 Hindu pilgrims. Yesterday, 23 people were injured in the Yaqub Pura and Panigate neighborhoods of Vadodara town, 110 kilometers south of Ahmedabad, the state’s largest city, a local police officer at the control room said by telephone.
The injured included one officer who suffered acid burns, the control room said. Police fired to disperse the mobs.
Police also opened fire in Rameshwar and Bala Sinor towns as mobs attacked them and each other. Rameshwar is located near Godhra, where the train arson took place in February last year and where tensions are still high.
Nine people, including two police officers, were injured in Rameshwar.
