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| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA Web Desk |Updated: Oct 25, 2022, 08:00 PM IST
Diwali, which is the festival of lights, took a dark and violent turn in Gujarat when communal clashes broke out in Vadodara in the middle of the celebrations at night, which led to 19 people being detained by the police, according to reports.
As many as 19 people were left detained late at night on Diwali as the celebrations and bursting of crackers triggered communal clashes in two communities in Vadodara. Religious tensions arose in the sensitive areas of the Panigate locality.
What started as normal Diwali celebrations on the night of October 24, soon turned into full-fledged stone-pelting fights between two communities, with petrol bombs being hurled at the police when they tried to intervene in the situation.
What happened in Gujarat’s Vadodara?
According to the police authorities, the clashes between two communities in the Panigate locality broke out at around 12:45 am on Tuesday, with people being detained by the authorities early in the morning.
The clash was triggered when some people from the Hindu community were celebrating Diwali and bursting firecrackers when one of the skyrockets misfired and hit a motorcycle, which reportedly belonged to a person from the Muslim community.
The vehicle was damaged and caught on fire, which later triggered a spat between the two communities. The verbal fight soon turned into a physical one, with stones being hurled by both groups at each other.
"Stones were pelted at each other in a clash between two communities on the late night of Monday in Vadodara's Panigate area. Many vehicles were set on fire and shops were also vandalized," the DCP told ANI.
The police also said that a petrol bomb was hurled at them from the third floor of a nearby building when they were trying to intervene and stop the communal violence in the area. They also said that some vehicles were torched in the area.
The police are scanning the CCTV footage of the area to identify the culprits and ascertain what triggered the clash.
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