Police said today they had arrested nearly 10,000 people in the western Indian state of Maharashtra to prevent any outbreak of religious violence.
The arrests, mostly in financial capital Bombay, were continuing ahead of a 2.15 p.m. (8.45 a.m. Irish time) deadline fixed by Hindu hardliners to hold prayers around the country for a temple they want to build on the site of a razed mosque in the holy town of Ayodhya.
Mr V.N. Deshmukh, joint commissioner of police in Bombay, said close to 8,000 people had been arrested in the city. "More preventive arrests are in the process. We are taking stern action against people who are trying to create trouble".
A police official at the state police control room said a further 1,600 had been arrested in the rest of Maharashtra.