ON THE RAMPAGE: A BMTC bus that was set on fire near Thimmiah Road, in Bangalore, on Sunday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: A boy was killed and three persons were injured when the police opened fire to quell a mob in Shivajinagar in the city on Sunday.

Twenty houses, five shops and two dozen vehicles were set on fire in Shivajinagar, Bharathinagar, Ulsoor and Commercial Street police station limits. The condition of four persons, who were attacked with choppers and iron rods, is critical. Several people had been injured in stone throwing, the police said.

While the police have clamped night curfew in Bharathinagar police station limits, which witnessed large-scale violence for the third day on Sunday, prohibitory orders will be in force in Shivajinagar, Ulsoor, Fraser Town, Commercial Street, Kadugondanahalli, Devarajeevanhalli areas till Tuesday midnight.

Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao said the police had opened fire after a mob stabbed a constable on Sultan Gunte Road in Shivajinagar. The identity of the boy, aged around 12, who was killed in the firing was yet to be ascertained, he said.

Stone throwing

The violence that broke out in the afternoon continued till late in the evening. The police said the trouble had started when a large number of people who came in a procession from Nagavara to attend the Viraat Hindu Samajotsava in Ulsoor had turned unruly. They allegedly stoned houses in Cox Town.

Clash

Trouble also broke out on Kamaraj Road when some people stoned houses and shops while a procession was passing through the road. This resulted in a clash between two groups following which violence spread to Bamboo Bazaar, Seppings Road, Narayana Pillai Street, OPH Road, Commercial Street, Gangadhara Chetty Road and Thimmaiah Road.

The police lobbed several rounds of tear gas shells and fired in the air on Seppings Road, and the situation remained tense in the area. Arsonists torched three buses, eight autorickshaws, two vans and over a dozen two-wheelers in these areas.

Windscreens of several cars, jeeps and buses were damaged in the stone throwing.

Fire tenders had a tough time in reaching the spots. Shops and business establishments in the areas remained closed.

In Bharathinagar, women allegedly threw chilly powder on policemen when they tried to catch the miscreants who had taken refuge in the houses.

Earlier in the day, Home Minister M.P. Prakash, accompanied by the Director-General and Inspector General of Police K.R. Srinivasan and the Commissioner of Police, visited the areas that had witnessed violence on Friday and Saturday.

Assurance

He assured the aggrieved residents and shopkeepers that the Government was doing its best to restore normality.

The police said that Sunday's incidents were a fallout of the communal violence that broke out in Bharathinagar on Friday during a rally taken out in protest against the execution of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Holiday for schools

A holiday has been declared on Monday for schools and colleges in Bharathinagar, Shivajinagar, Commercial Street, Fraser Town and surrounding areas that witnessed large-scale violence on Sunday.

Mr. Achuta Rao told The Hindu that holiday had been declared for the educational institutions in the affected areas as a precautionary measure.

Schools and colleges in other parts of the city will function as usual.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail