Friday riot rocks city

TNN / Feb 18, 2006, 01:54 IST

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The city had another Friday convulsion as rioting erupted in the Old City over the Denmark cartoon controversy.

HYDERABAD: The city had another Friday convulsion as rioting erupted in the Old City over the Denmark cartoon controversy, with Islamic protesters burning and damaging vehicles and stoning shops in the area around Charminar.
This time, the walled city teetered on the edge of a communal riot as the rioters lobbed stones at shops at Gulzar Houz and received a retaliatory barrage.Police fired teargas shells and rained lathi blows on the rioters to bring the situation under control.
Personnel of the Rapid Action Force, APSP, CRPF, and local police were deployed in strength but people across the Old City felt insecure, dreading the Fridays to come ahead of US President George Bush's visit to the city.
Trouble broke out at 1 pm after an unpermitted meeting organised by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) to protest the Danish depiction of the Prophet.

The crowd of 10,000 poured out after the afternoon prayer at the Mecca Masjid, and as the policemen ringing the Charminar area watched nervously, they raised full-throated slogans and stomped on a flag of Denmark laid out on the road leading to the mosque.
The police cordon was meant to prevent protesters from going towards Madina, where a sizeable number of Hindus live.
But it was breached anyway. Before the policemen realised it, rioters ran towards Gulzar Houz and began tipping over vehicles parked on the street and stoning jewellery shops.

Policemen used teargas to scatter the mob but not before they had burnt four two-wheelers including a policeman's motorcycle and damaged over a dozen other vehicles.
Soon, some of the shop-keepers in Gulzar Houz gathered in large numbers and started returning the stones to the rioters. At least five persons suffered injuries and were rushed to Osmania Hospital. A fire tender was summoned to douse the burning vehicles.
Later in the evening, police took 10 people into custody, including the MIM's Charminar corporator Ghouse.

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