Tag: Riots

11 death sentences in India’s Gujarat riots case

AHMEDABAD - An Indian court on Tuesday handed 11 death sentences and 20 life terms to Muslims convicted of burning Hindus alive in a train fire which triggered revenge attacks that killed 2,000 people. Last week, 31 Muslims were found guilty on murder and conspiracy charges for causing the 2002 train fire in the western state of Gujarat, but 63 others were acquitted in a setback to the prosecution and police.
Fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims perished in the blaze at Godhra station,

Riots break out after ‘token strike’ at petrol pumps

KARACHI - R ioting broke out in many parts of the city on Monday after petrol pump owners observed a token strike on the call of Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA). While petrol pump owners sought an increase in their commission, enraged citizens blamed them for halting supplies in an attempt to make higher profits in view of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority's (OGRA) anticipated decision to increase the prices of petroleum products. These fears turned out to be true by late

Middle East riots spread fears among rice exporters

LAHORE - Keeping in view of the current political instability in troubled areas of Middle East, the federal government should formulate a policy to provide safeguard to Pakistani exporters, said Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) Acting Chairman Taufiq Ahmed Khan.
He said the government should make sure that all buyers honoured their business commitment with Pakistani exporters as financial insecurity was increasing in exports, especially in Middle East countries

31 convicted over fire that triggered Indian riots

AHMEDABAD - An Indian court on Tuesday convicted 31 people on conspiracy and murder charges over a deadly train fire in 2002 that triggered anti-Muslim rioting in which 2,000 people were killed. The unrest, some of the worst religious violence in India since independence, was sparked after 59 Hindu pilgrims perished in the train fire at Godhra station in the western state of Gujarat.
Hindus in the state blamed the blaze on Muslim protesters at the station, and furious mobs

Anger grows in Tunisia as 50 killed in riots

TUNIS - Anger over a crackdown on protesters in Tunisia grew on Tuesday as a union official said 50 were killed in three days of unrest while artists and hospital staff joined demonstrations.
Locals reported looting in the town of Kasserine overnight and said demonstrators were fired upon from rooftops. Meanwhile schools and universities across the country were shut as the government tried to quell weeks of protests centred on unemployment. A union official told AFP that at least

Two dead, 400 hurt in Algerian riots

ALGIERS - Two people were killed and 400 injured, 300 of them police, in riots in Algeria linked to rising food costs and unemployment, Interior Minister Dahou Oul Kablia said Saturday as the government scrambled to defuse the crisis.
One was shot dead on Friday in Ain Lahdjel in the M'Sila region, 300 kilometres southeast of Algiers, the minister said on national radio. "He died in an attempt to break into a police station," he added, confirming a report in the Arab-language

Nepal reinforces peacekeepers after Haiti riots

KATHMANDU: The Nepalese army on Tuesday said it had reinforced protection of its peacekeepers in Haiti after they were attacked by crowds angry over a cholera outbreak blamed by some on the soldiers.
Two people were killed in the riots on Monday.
Nepal, which has more than 1,000 soldiers working with the United Nations mission in Haiti, said "false rumours" that its soldiers were to blame for the cholera could have been the reason they were targeted.
"We are concerned.