Two people killed, 16 policemen wounded in New Delhi riots

NEWDELIH, Nov. 26 (YPA) – Violate clashes erupted between Indian Muslims and police on Sunday, leaving at least two people dead and 16 policemen wounded, after riots sparked in the country.

Activists from the Hindu religion, to which the majority of Indians belong, have launched a battle to claim centuries-old Islamic monuments, saying they were built on the sites of Hindu temples during the Mughal Empire, a period they consider to be a time when Muslims persecuted Hindus.

The riots broke out when a team of investigators entered the Shahi Mosque in Sambhal on the orders of a local court, following a complaint filed by a Hindu cleric.

Protesters threw stones at police, who fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Hindu nationalists have become more emboldened after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year inaugurated a large temple dedicated to the god Rama in Ayodhya (north), on the site of a centuries-old mosque that was destroyed by Hindu hardliners in 1992.

AA