The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Muslim youth in Vellore protest against publication of cartoon

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Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Muslim youth in Vellore protest against publication of cartoon

Staff Reporter

It leads to violent incidents; stones hurled at six government buses

— Photo: Special Arrangement

Protestors who gathered in front of the office of a Tamil daily on the Chennai-Bangalore Main Road in Vellore on Tuesday.

VELLORE: Tension prevailed in Vellore as scores of Muslim youth staged a protest to condemn the publication of a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in a Tamil daily here on Tuesday. They pelted government buses with stones.

The protestors, who gathered in large numbers on the Chennai-Bangalore Road, said the publication of the cartoon had hurt the sentiments of Muslims.

Initially, the protestors staged a ‘road roko’. The incident took an ugly turn when the protestors threw stones at the daily’s office. This forced the police to resort to a lathi charge.

As the protestors remained on the road for more than four hours, traffic on the Chennai-Bangalore Road was affected.

25 arrested

The police said they had arrested 25 persons for damaging government buses. In one of the incidents, three children were reported to have sustained injuries. The police said the injured were treated at the Government Hospital at Adugamparai.

The police had to resort to lathicharge more than five times to restore order.

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