BANGALORE (AFP)
Police and federal security forces were deployed in India’s technology hub yesterday after sectarian violence overnight killed a 12-year-old boy and left at least 30 people injured.
A curfew was clamped overnight in two places in the city after right-wing Hindu protesters attacked shops owned by minority Muslims, stoned vehicles and burned down buses during a rally. “The curfew has been lifted since and there have been no incidents so far,” a police spokesman said.
“The city is normal. On Sunday, at least 30 people were injured. A policeman who was stabbed by protesters is in a critical condition.” The 12-year-old boy was killed on Sunday night when police opened fire on a group of rioters, police said, without giving the identity of the victim.
Sunday’s violence was a result of a similar riot which broke out on Friday, when Muslims ransacked Hindu shops and burned cars to protest against last month’s execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. “More than a dozen people were arrested overnight,” the spokesman said.
M.P. Prakash, Karnataka state’s home minister, said the government would take action against the people behind the riots, irrespective of their political affiliations.
Friday’s protest rally was organised by the state’s opposition Congress party. “Police will go all out in their efforts to book the culprits and bring the situation back to normal at the earliest,” Prakash said.