AHMEDABAD: Eight persons were today arrested for pelting stones at police after an altercation broke out between members of two communities over gaining entry into a temple at a village in Gandhinagar today, officials said.
According to police, members of Dalit community in Piplaj village had taken out a religious procession which was stopped by members of Darbar community as they did not want them to enter a village temple.
When police reached the spot, they started hurling stones at them, after which police lobbed three tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, Superintendent of Police, Gandhinagar, Virendra Singh Yadav said.
"The Darbar community members forcibly stopped the religious procession while it was on its way to the temple and asked them to return, after which police were called in.
Around two dozen police personnel reached the spot to prevent any clashes and allow Dalits to carry on with the procession," Yadav said.
"Police fired three tear gas shells to disperse the mob after they hurled stones at the police personnel who had gone there to prevent clash between members of the two communities.
Eight persons were arrested for throwing stones at the police," he said.
The arrested accused belong to Darbar community, police said, adding further probe is on.