Agra (IANS)
Mishap sparks violent protests, death toll 5

The Taj Mahal was abruptly closed after large parts of Agra came under curfew yesterday after a truck ploughed through Muslims celebrating a festival killing four men, sparking mob fury and police firing that left a young man dead and dozens injured in India’s top tourist destination.
After nearly eight hours of street battles and arson during which many parts of Agra resembled a battlefield, the authorities said the situation was “under control”. But Indian and foreign tourists were asked to stay put in hotels, amid warnings that tourist traffic would be badly hit for at least a fortnight.
The bulk of the injured, including two were in critical condition, were policemen who became the target of Muslims because their colleagues had wrongly allowed trucks to ply on a road where the Muslims were celebrating Shab-e-barat post midnight Wednesday.
The tragedy took place at 4 a.m. when a speeding truck ran into a Muslim crowd bursting firecrackers on Mahatma Gandhi Road, crushing four members of a family related to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The truck driver drove on, infuriating the Muslim crowds that gave chase. As the festivities came to a sudden halt, the revelry turned into fury. The killer truck was eventually tracked to Sadar area and set on fire. In no time, mobs took over the streets attacking policemen and setting ablaze nearly a dozen trucks and a fire tender. Some shops and a small factory caught fire.
 The mobs also stoned the outnumbered policemen, who threw back stones at the rioters. As a group of community leaders rushed to Nai ki Mandi area, the police station there was besieged.
 The police used batons to disperse the mobs and fired tear gas. A 20-year-old man, Anwar, who was returning from a nursing home, was killed in police firing, witnesses said. Panicky officials announced curfew in and around the Taj Mahal, and ordered the closure of the monument to love. All approach roads were closed. “This has never, never happened before,” said Sandeep Arora, a leading hotelier of Agra.