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Stray incidents of violence in Hyderabad

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Police opened fire in the air to disperse a violent mob that attacked a police station in the old city of Hyderabad while 10 persons, including three policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday.

Even as Vishwa Hindu Parishad-sponsored bandh call evoked partial response, trouble erupted in the old city after Friday prayers when a mob attacked Bhavaninagar police station in Muslim-dominated Talab Katta area and set fire to 10 two-wheelers parked in front of the police station.

The police said that a group of 100 youth attacked the police station around 2 pm. They pelted stones, torched the two-wheelers and broke the windows.

Three policemen, including Inspector Y Satyanarayana, who were present at the police station, locked themselves to escape mob fury. As the miscreants tried to break open the door, the cops fired four rounds into the air from the windows to scare away the rampaging mob.

One policeman sustained injuries in the stone-pelting. Senior police officials with Rapid Action Force reinforcements rushed to the area and brought the situation under control.

Elsewhere in the Old City, an abandoned fire station, a ward office of ruling Telugu Desam Party and a local temple were ransacked by miscreants in separate incidents. A pujari was injured when a mob attacked a temple at Ali Jah Kotla near Charminar. The assailants also threw stones at few houses adjoining the temple.

Mild tension prevailed in parts of the communally sensitive old city since morning with BJP activists seeking to enforce the bandh call in some areas.

Police claimed that the situation was totally under control, barring few stray incidents. The police were trying to identify those who indulged in violence even as the Rapid Action Force and the Andhra Pradesh Special Police intensified patrolling in the interior areas of old city.

About 500 youth coming out of the historic Mecca Masjid near Charminar after the Friday prayers raised slogans.

Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen corporators and peace committee members prevented them from taking out a procession and marching towards Charminar.

The youth indulged in stone-pelting for 15 minutes and roughed up a MIM corporator. No one was injured in stone-pelting incident.

The armed policemen posted near the monument, exercised restraint even as the youth were persuaded to leave. Later, they went away in different directions. One group ransacked an abandoned fire station at Moghulpura. Bicycles, a telephone instrument and other items in the fire station were damaged.

Local Telugu Desam Party office near the fire station also came under attack. The locked door was broken and the office was ransacked. A police constable was injured in the stone-pelting.

Police resorted to a lathicharge to disperse a stone-pelting mob near Hafiz Danka mosque in the same area. Other incidents of stone throwing were reported from different parts of the old city.

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