Police said the clashes
occurred in Godhra town on Wednesday, where 59
Hindus were burnt to death in a train
compartment in 2002.
The deaths triggered months of
bloody Hindu-Muslim rioting in which nearly 2000
people, mostly Muslims, were killed.
When police entered the predominantly Muslim area
of Shatpool on Wednesday to arrest two
people accused over the Godhra train carnage, a
mob stood in their way, superintendent of police Piyush Patel said.
Mayhem
"As soon as the police reached Shatpool to arrest
Salim Panwala and another Godhra accused, a huge
crowd of Muslims collected and began pelting
(them with) stones."
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The Babri mosque
was destroyed
by Hindu zealots in
1992 |
Police said they fired
four warning shots into the air and threw several teargas canisters to control the group.
In the mayhem, 12 people were injured and a
police sub-inspector and two head constables
were also hurt, Patel said.
He added the area was still tense late
on Wednesday.
Babri mosque
Muslims and Hindus in
Gujarat have been at loggerheads since Hindu zealots destroyed the
Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.
Hindus say the
mosque was built on the birthplace of their deity-king Ram,
and India's
governing Bharatiya Janata Party have campaigned for a temple to
be built in Ayodhya.
However, Muslims want
a mosque to be rebuilt on the site.
Although Muslims were
initially blamed for the 59 Hindus who were killed in Godhra in
1992, a subsequent investigation found that evidence of Muslim
complicity was inconclusive.