INSTILLING CONFIDENCE: Police conducting a flag march in Mangalore on Sunday.

MANGALORE: Mangalore was incident-free but tense on Sunday, the third day since the communal clashes broke out. Similar was the situation in Bantwal, Ullal and Uppinangady and life was near normal in Sullia. The district administration has extended the curfew, which was imposed on Friday, till 6 p.m. on Monday.

Police resorted to mild lathi-charge at Mudipu and Ullal when people, who had gathered outside during the curfew relaxation period, refused to go indoors.

People scurried across the city to buy commodities in the market when the curfew was relaxed between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Various contingents of police including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) civil police and Karnataka Reserve Armed Police conducted a flag march in Mangalore (Kudroli, Bunder and Hampankatta), Buntwal town, B.C. Road and Ullal.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda, MP, along with MLA Krishna Palemar visited the Veeranagar area where some people were allegedly driven out of their houses and forced to live in a temporary shelter, where a gruel centre was set up for them. About 300 families from Veeranagar, Faisalnagar, Ullal and Thokkuttu have been put up in the camp.

A meeting of leaders of various communities, under the leadership of N. Vinaya Hegde, appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony. Poornakamananda Swami of Ramakrishna Math, seer of Adichunchanagiri Math at Mangalore Dharmapalanatha, Bishop of Mangalore Catholic Diocese Aloysius Paul D'Souza, chief of the Sayyad Madini Darga Trust of Ullal U.K. Ibrahim, president of the Dakshina Kannada district Kannada Sahitya Parishat Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, president of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry John Prasad Menezes, Abdullah Kunhi and P.C. Kunhi participated in the meeting.

According to Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao, curfew had been extended in Ullal, Konaje, Mangalore Rural and Mangalore City police sub-divisions up to 6 p.m. on Monday.

However, the administration is likely to relax the curfew in a staggered manner in different parts of the city between 9 a.m. and noon.

This is under the consideration of he administration and can be confirmed only on Monday morning.

Several political leaders are scheduled to visit the riot-hit areas of the city on Monday.

They include Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, Home minister M.P. Prakash, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh and National Administrative Reforms Committee Chairman M. Veerappa Moily.

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