A Few Injured As Clash Breaks Out During 'Tazia' Procession In UP's Varanasi, Heavy Police Force Deployed

Shias and Sunnis in Varanasi's Dhoshipura clashed during a 'Tazia' procession on Saturday following which heavy police force was deployed in the area.

Shias and Sunnis in Varanasi's Dhoshipura clashed during a 'Tazia' procession on Saturday following which heavy police force was deployed in the area.

Source : PTI

A communal clash broke out in the Doshipura area in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi during a 'Tazia' procession between the members of Shia and Sunni communities, leaving a few injured and some vehicles damaged. A heavy police force was deployed in the area following the incident. Commissioner of Police Ashok Mutha Jain went to the spot to take stock of the situation and said the officials were trying to ascertain the cause of the scuffle. A police official while talking to news agency PTI said that one of the injured was sent to the BHU Hospital for treatment.

The police official said, "There was a minor scuffle between Shia and Sunni communities in the Doshipura area of the city under Jaitpura police station. There was stone-pelting and some persons were injured." He didn't specify the number of people injured though.

Jain said that the members of both communities came face-to-face during the 'tazia' procession in the Doshipura area. While talking to PTI, he said, "Stones were pelted by both sides. The police separated them. In order to control the situation, a heavy police force along with RAF personnel has been deployed. Police are trying to ascertain the cause of the incident, and efforts are on to nab those involved."

As per Jaitpura police station SHO Mathura Rai, six-seven vehicles were damaged in stone-pelting.

Similar violence was also observed in the national capital yesterday. A section of people during a Muharram procession pelted stones at police and clashed with them, injuring about 10 personnel and damaging several vehicles. The clash occurred after the participants were stopped from changing the designated route in west Delhi's Nangloi, news agency PTI reported officials as informing. The police baton-charged the "unruly crowd" to disperse it, they said. Some purported videos of the incident were also circulated on social media that showed stone-pelting causing damage to public vehicles.

"Several 'tazia' processions were being carried out in the Nangloi area and around eight to ten thousand people participated in them. One or two organisers became unruly and tried to divert their procession route which was earlier decided," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Harendra Singh said, as quoted by PTI.

"When police objected to it, they started pelting stones at police personnel. In order to control them, police resorted to a mild lathi charge and dispersed them from the area," he added.