SANVODEM, India (AP) - Hundreds of Hindu protesters rampaged through a town in the coastal state of Goa on Saturday, storming a police station, beating officers, looting Muslim shops and burning vehicles and buildings.
Five people, including three police officers, were wounded as officers with batons tried to repel rioters. The protesters were demanding the release of 37 men arrested during three days of violent Hindu-Muslim clashes sparked when suspected Hindu extremists destroyed a mosque in Sanvodem.
The protesters beat officers and bombarded them with rocks, said police superintendent Satkhar Prabhubesai.
Several men could be seen stealing a policeman's gun after beating him unconscious with stones and sticks.
An overturned car lay in a pile of debris in front of the police station.
The protesters left the police station Saturday after Hindu politicians intervened to secure the release of the 37 men.
Relations between India's Hindus and minority Muslims are uneasy and often flare into violence: On Friday a Muslim protest in the northern city of Lucknow against a visit by President Bush turned into a Muslim-Hindu riot in which four people were shot dead.
But religious clashes in Goa, a former Portuguese colony and one of India's premier tourist attractions, are rare.
