The old city remained peaceful on Thursday after witnessing stone-pelting incidents at different places in Gowlipura on Wednesday night, while the police are gearing up for the Friday noon prayers by tightening security.
People of two communities clashed on Wednesday night near Gowlipura vegetable market after a religious flag caught fire due to a firecracker burst by someone in the locality. The Commissioner’s Task Force police rushed to the spot and cane-charged the stone-pelting mobs and dispersed them. Quick deployment of Rapid Action Force platoons and blocking of roads with barbed wire fencing in the trouble-hit localities and intensified patrolling in the night seemed to have helped the police in containing the violence.
All the areas, where tension escalated the previous night, remained peaceful on Thursday. City Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma held a meeting with religious heads at his Purani Haveli office in the evening and appealed to people to observe restraint.
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Meanwhile, higher-ups drew fresh security sketches for the Friday noon prayers keeping in view the frequent outbreak of communal violence for past few days in the old city. More forces would be deployed at all strategic points. Police anticipate that the congregations at Mecca Masjid could be bigger than normal.