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Six persons were arrested after members of two communities clashed during Holi celebrations in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 18 March.
Several videos of the incident have gone viral on social media that capture Muslims and Hindus throwing stones and slippers at each other.
The incident took place when a group of people were playing music in an empty plot next to a mosque in Kotwali area of Amroha.
The Holi celebrations happened to coincide with the Muslim festival Shab-e-Barat. A group of people came out of the mosque and objected to the playing of the music during the time of namaz, which soon led to a dispute, police said.
Ataur Rahman, Samajwadi Party MLA from Baheri, accused people of applying colour on the Mutvalli (caretaker) of the mosque, which enraged the community.
The loudspeakers installed along with Holi decorations on the main road were broken in the scuffle, the police told The Quint. Additional Superintendent of Police Alok Jaiswal and Additional District Officer Kamlesh Awasthi rushed to the spot.
A large contingent of security personnel has been deployed at Chhanga Darwaza to avoid any untoward incident, said police.
A case has been registered against 40-50 unidentified persons and the police said the other miscreants are bing identified with the help of the videos.
SP Rural Rajkumar Aggarwal accused the crowd of misbehaving with the police and assured that the situation was under control now.
The local SP MLA also sought action against those who threw gulaal on the mosque.
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