Indian police open fire on religious activists

One person is reported dead and five Hindu hard-liners were injured today after police fired on a crowd of activists trying to stage a religious ceremony in eastern India as part of a campaign to build a temple on a holy site claimed by Hindus and Muslims.

The private Star news channel and state-run All India Radio said one person was killed, but police in the eastern metropolis of Calcutta could not confirm the death.

The shooting took place at a railway station south of Calcutta after dozens of Hindu fundamentalists defied a government ban on congregations of more than four people meant to prevent riots.

The ban was imposed after more than 700 people were killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes earlier this month that erupted when Muslims attacked a train carrying Hindu nationalists returning from the site of a razed 16th century mosque.

It was the worst Hindu-Muslim violence in a decade.