NEW DELHI, Feb. 14, India, Reuter: Five people were killed and 30 injured when rioting broke out today in the western Indian city Ahmedabad after the arrest of a local Moslem leader, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
It said three of the dead and seven injured were shot when police fired on crowds rampaging through Ahmedabad’s walled city, where clashes frequently erupt between the Moslem and Hindu com munities crowded together in the old quarter.
Two of the dead were stabbed, the other wounded people were stabbed or hit by stones thrown by the crowds, PTI added. Several vehicles were set ablaze, the agency said.
Rioting erupted when Moslems heard of the arrest of Abdul Latif, recently elected an independent member of the Municipal Corporation in the textile manufacturing city of 2.5 million.
The reason for his arrest was not immediately known. Latif, on parole by court order for an unspecified offence, was detained when routinely reporting at a police station, PTI added.
Police clamped a curfew on parts of the city. They imposed a curfew for one day last month when 20 people were injured in similar Hindu Moslem rioting and police is firing.
More than 50 people were killed in riots between the two communities in Ahmedabad last July which erupted when Moslems clashed with Hindu religious precisionists.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 20, 1987
