People react during a clash with police at a protest that turned violent in Mumbai on Saturday. – Photo by Reuters

MUMBAI: Two people died and dozens were injured in clashes on Saturday in India's financial capital between police and thousands of Muslims who were protesting the deaths of Muslims in rioting last month in the country's northeast, police said.    

Police fired guns into the air and used bamboo batons to disperse the protesters, who threw rocks and damaged about a dozen buses and police vans.

Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik said two protesters died from injuries sustained in the clashes, but had not been shot. Another 52 people, including 44 police officers, were injured in the clashes, he said.

He said the protesters also burned three TV broadcasting vans, complaining that media coverage of last month's rioting in Assam state was biased against the Muslim victims.

The rioting between ethnic Bodos and Muslim settlers mainly involved land rights.

At least 53 people died and about 400,000 were forced to flee their homes and take shelter in government-run relief camps.

The rioting now is mostly under control. The Bodos and the Muslim settlers, who mostly came from the former East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh in 1971, have clashed repeatedly over the years but the recent violence is the worst since the mid-1990s.

Opinion

Editorial

Budget presser
Updated 14 Jun, 2026

Budget presser

If the FBR falters, the government will find itself in hot water sooner rather than later.
Muharram precautions
14 Jun, 2026

Muharram precautions

WITH Muharram due to start next week, the authorities have already begun annual exercises to ensure that the ...
Blood bequests
14 Jun, 2026

Blood bequests

WORLD Blood Donor Day offers a moment of “gratitude, advocacy and renewed commitment” for thalassaemia patients...
Sustainable path?
Updated 13 Jun, 2026

Sustainable path?

The FY27 budget is the first clear signal that the government is ready to transition from stabilisation to growth.
Prioritising education
13 Jun, 2026

Prioritising education

THOUGH the improvement in the country’s literacy rate may be slight, as highlighted by the Economic Survey, it ...
Poverty’s rise
13 Jun, 2026

Poverty’s rise

AS attention turns to the government’s plans for the coming fiscal year, one set of figures deserves particular...