India: Hindus and Muslims clash over Mosque anniversary

Hindu extremists and Muslim protesters clashed in New Delhi today, throwing rocks and beating each other with bamboo sticks as both groups gathered to mark the anniversary of the 1992 destruction of a 16th century mosque.

Indian police separated the groups and detained several dozen people, police inspector Harcharan Verma said, adding that there were a handful of injuries, although none were serious.

Several hundred members of Shiv Sena, a hardline Hindu group, marched in New Delhi to celebrate the destruction of the Babri mosque 15 years ago by Hindu extremists, an event that inflamed India and led to widespread Hindu-Muslim riots.

They were met there by protesters from a coalition of Muslim groups calling for the mosque to be rebuilt and for those that destroyed it to be brought to justice.

Witnesses said the Shiv Sena members charged the Muslims, setting off the violence. However, both sides blamed the other.

“For 15 years we have been celebrating this day as victory day. Today we were attacked with bamboo sticks by hundreds of these people,” said Vinod Bhardwaj, a Shiv Sena activist.

On December 6 1992, hundreds of Hindu extremists pulled down the mosque, claiming it was built on a Hindu holy site. Hindu-Muslim riots that followed killed some 2,000 people across India, most of them Muslims.