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Violence in Ahmedabad, 20,000 arrests across the country

Barring sporadic violence and re-imposition curfew in Ahmedabad and arrest of over 20,000 people, the country on Friday remained calm during the shila daan ceremony in Ayodhya.

Curfew was clamped in three Muslim-dominated localities of Ahmedabad -- Shahpur, Kalupur and Karanj -- as mobs hurled stones at passing vehicles.

About 10,000 people were arrested in Maharashtra, 8,000 in Mumbai alone. Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists performed special prayers in over 2,000 temples across the state.

VHP leader Giriraj Kishore and Bharatiya Janata Party MPs Brijbhushan and Chinamayanand were arrested near Lucknow when they were on their way to Ayodhya in the morning.

Despite simmering tensions across Gujarat, which has just about recovered from a round of communal frenzy that claimed more than 600 lives, thousands of VHP workers offered prayers in various parts of the state.

Temple bells rang as nearly 400 Ram sevaks, mostly VHP activists, offered prayer in Godhra at the Ram Lalla temple.

Tension gripped Hyderabad briefly when a crowd emerging from a mosque after Friday prayers raised slogans.

In Kerala, prayers were offered in mosques during the Friday namaaz for communal harmony in the state.

Police arrested 29 VHP activists in Haldibari area of West Bengal when they took out a procession defying ban.

Hundreds of people were rounded up when they tried to take out 'Ram jap yatras' in Rajasthan's Tonk, Sikar and Jhunjhun districts, Inspector General of Police (law and order) A K Jain said.

In Indore, VHP activists performed shila pujan at a temple in the presence of a large number of policemen and Rapid Action Force personnel.

In neighbouring Dewas district, police opened fire to disperse Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarti Parishad activists who were trying to take out a rally.

In Agra, 47 Bajrang Dal activists were taken into custody for trying to board an Ayodhya-bound train.

PTI

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

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