Police in India's capital have arrested 14 people after sectarian violence erupted during a Hindu holy parade, injuring numerous persons, according to local media.
Following the event on Saturday night, the suspects were arrested on allegations of rioting and criminal conspiracy, among other things, according to senior police official Usha Rangnani of the Press Trust of India news agency.
According to the officer, at least nine persons were hurt, including eight police officers, and are being treated in hospitals.
Authorities claim Hindu and Muslim groups threw stones at one other during a religious parade marking the birth of the Hindu god Hanuman in Jahangirpuri, a suburb in northwest Delhi, on Saturday night. The event is still being investigated by police, and it's unknown what precipitated the violence.
It was the first major instance of violence in New Delhi since a large-scale communal war in 2020, when 53 people died in a large-scale communal fight over a controversial citizenship law, which was widely regarded as the deadliest religious riots in decades.
Late Saturday night, Delhi's police commissioner tweeted that the situation in the neighbourhood had been brought under control after more officers were deployed to patrol the area.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, asked for calm in the city and denounced the incident.
Streets in Jahangirpuri are littered with broken glass and stones in videos posted on social media, and photographs show extensively damaged vehicles.
The event in New Delhi follows allegations of communal violence and hate speech in a number of other Indian states in the last week.
Anti-Muslim songs were blared via speakers during a procession to honour the birth of the Hindu god Ram in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on April 10, local media reported, injuring a number of inpiduals. A day later in the western state of Gujarat, one person died and many others were injured in violence following the festival, prompting curfews and a ban on gatherings in some parts of the state.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for a series of recent religious attacks. Communal violence in India is not new, with sporadic conflicts erupting since the British pision of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, but analysts say that under Modi, religious polarisation has increased, strengthening fault lines against minorities and raising tensions.
Leaders from 13 opposition parties signed a statement on Saturday urging Modi to denounce the spate of religious attacks and expressing alarm about the "recent outburst of communal violence experienced across multiple states."
“We are extremely anguished at the manner in which issues related to food, dress, faith, festivals and language are being deliberately used by sections of the ruling establishment to polarize our society,” the leaders wrote.
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