NEW DELHI, India: The Uttar Pradesh government has put the Indian Army on alert in the northern city of Kanpur to prevent anti-Muslim riots after stray violence marked Muslim protests on Monday, newspaper reports said.
Police and paramilitary troops arrested more than 75 people and staged flag marches to defuse tension after a clash with Muslim demonstrators on Monday left six people in hospital, “The Times of India” reported,
It said the situation in the industrial city of Uttar Pradesh state, 400 kilometers from the Indian capital, was “tense but under control” on Monday. Muslims and Hindus clashed here on the eve of Monday’s Muslim strike to demand the reopening ofa400year old shrine in the state disputed by the two communities.
During Monday’s strike Muslims forced shops to close intimidating traders and stoning policemen who tried to intervene, “The Times of India” said.
Six bomb blasts rocked Faizabad city which has been under an indefinite curfew since anti-Muslim clashes on Sunday, the paper said.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 17, 1987
