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| Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
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Tight security as Hindus begin march in Gujarat AHMEDABAD,India, (Reuters) Rooftop sharpshooters and surveillance helicopters watched on Saturday as thousands of Hindu devotees began an annual religious march in India's riot-scarred state of Gujarat, police said. The state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, led a series of hand-pulled, brightly-decorated chariots trundling idols of the Hindu god Krishna through the commercial capital, Ahmedabad, where more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in religious clashes in 2002. "The rath yatra (chariot march) has got off to a peaceful start," a senior police official said. "Security is very, very tight." Sharpshooters took positions on rooftops and helicopters hovered along the route of the march to monitor events and avoid a repeat of the 2002 clashes, India's worst religious violence in a decade. Day-long processions, known locally as "Jagannath rath yatras", are being held simultaneously in 80 towns across the western state, with the march covering 25 km (15 miles). The processions will wend their way through narrow streets in Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods in Ahmedabad, where police said Muslims had shut shops and businesses to ensure the event stayed peaceful. Fears of unrest rose this week after police shot dead four suspected Muslim militants whom they accused of plotting to assassinate Modi. The violence two years ago was sparked after 59 Hindu activists were killed when a suspected Muslim mob set ablaze a train. ((Reporting by Thomas Kutty Abraham, editing by Anne Marie Roantree; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]; +91-79-6469-162) |
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