Hindu hardliners defy Ayodhya ban

Thousands of Hindu activists are reportedly converging on the city

The hardline Hindu organisation in India, the VHP, says it will try again to stage a rally at a disputed holy site in the northern city of Ayodhya.

Activists were prevented on Friday from demonstrating at the site - which is claimed by Hindus and Muslims - by police using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Earlier tens of thousands were arrested, including the leader of the VHP, Ashok Singhal, to prevent them attending the illegal rally.

A state official however says those detained have now been released, and the BBC's correspondent in Ayodhya says thousands of them are again converging on the city.

Click here to see a plan of the disputed site

Ayodhya has been at the centre of religious tension in India since Hindu militants destroyed an ancient mosque there in 1992, saying it had been built on the site of a Hindu temple.

The activists had defied an official ban by trying to march in support of demands for the building of a temple on the site in Ayodhya.

Outnumbered

Thousands of Hindu nationalists had assembled at a workshop where idols and pillars are being made for a Hindu temple they intend to build.

When police asked the activists to surrender, stones and iron bars were thrown at them from inside the workshop.

Hindu leader Ashok Singhal was among those arrested Confrontation in pictures

The BBC's Sanjeev Srivastava in Ayodhya says the unprecedented security arrangements - including the deployment of elite anti-riot police units - ensured that the Hindu nationalists were outnumbered.

They had got into Ayodhya avoiding a security cordon that had seen roads sealed and train services diverted.

Up to 60,000 people trying to get to the town were arrested across the state of Uttar Pradesh, many of them as they boarded buses and trains bound to take them there.

Disputed site

In December 1992 crowds of Hindus demolished a 16th Century mosque at Ayodhya, triggering a year of violence that killed 2,000 people across India.

Thousands have been killed in Hindu-Muslim riots across the country since then.

Hindu activists claim the mosque was built on the site of an earlier temple to Lord Ram, but Muslims dispute this.

State chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has said he will uphold a court order banning any religious activity in or near the site in an attempt to avoid renewed violence.

However, both Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his deputy LK Advani had urged Mr Yadav to allow the VHP supporters to offer prayers at the site, saying they would be peaceful.

Earlier, police agreed to take the activists in small numbers to pray in a makeshift temple at the site.

Mr Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party has close ties with the VHP.

VHP vice-president Giriraj Kishore - who was detained on Wednesday while leading a procession of nearly 500 activists - is one of seven men accused of allegedly inciting the Hindu mob to destroy the Babri mosque.

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