Curfew imposed in Jodhpur city, tension continues

Jodhpur, May 03: A curfew was ordered in parts of Rajasthan's Jodhpur on Tuesday following clashes between two communities on Eid.

Communal tension broke out in Jodhpur leading to stone pelting. Five policemen were injured in the incident that took place past midnight.

The situation was brought under control with heavy deployment of police, but the tension re-escalated after the Namaz of Eid on Tuesday morning when some people pelted stones near the Jalori Gate here. A few vehicles were damaged.

Jodhpur is the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony.

Members of the minority community were installing Eid flags and they put up a flag on a roundabout alongside the statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa.

This led to a confrontation as the other community alleged that they a saffron flag they had put up there ahead of Parshuram Jayanti, had gone missing.

The issue snowballed into stone pelting and clashes, the officials said.

Police rushed to the spot to control the situation during which five policemen were injured, police control room said.

Gehlot tweeted urging the people to maintain peace and called the incident unfortunate.

"While respecting the tradition of love and brotherhood of Jodhpur, Marwar, I make a touching appeal to all the parties to maintain peace and cooperate in restoring law and order," he said.

The chief minister said instructions had been issued to the administration to maintain peace and order.