Riot and Arson Over Apparent Koran Desecration in India

Times of India reports; it’s not clear to me from the article whether the dead were the rioters or innocent victims of the rioters:

[S]ix people were killed and 12 injured, including two critically, in violence and arson during a protest against alleged desecration of the Quran. This is the sixth incident of communal violence in six months rule of Samajwadi Party so far….

“A member of our community saw pages of the holy Quran on which objectionable words were written along with a mobile number. He showed the pages to senior community members in the town, who took the pages to the police station,” said Ayub, a local advocate. “Instead of taking action, the police ignored the complaint,” he added. Following which an angry mob set the Masuri police station on fire.

Four police vehicles, six buses and some other vehicles were also damaged in the incident….

Ghaziabad district magistrate Aparna Upadhyay and senior superintendent of police Prashant Kumar told reporters that six persons were killed in the violence. A sub-inspector and a head constable suffered serious injuries and are in critical condition.

Asked whether protesters died in police firing, officials said it was a matter of investigation and they were awaiting post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of deaths….

Thanks to commenter shakerb for the pointer.

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