One killed as police clash with Hindu crowd

CALCUTTA, India -- Hindu activists on Sunday fought police trying to enforce a ban on large gatherings imposed after India's worst religious violence in a decade. One activist was killed and 32 people, mostly police, were injured.

Police and paramilitary forces were attacked when they tried to break up the crowd at a train station in Paldi, 12 miles south of Calcutta. Police responded by beating the group back with wooden sticks, lobbing tear gas and finally opening fire, said local government administrator Alapan Bandopadhyay.

Dozens of Hindu hard-liners were defying a ban on congregations of more than four people. The ban was imposed after hundreds of people were killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes in the western state of Gujarat less than two weeks ago.

A member of the fundamentalist World Hindu Council, which organized the ceremony, was killed in the shooting, and 32 people were injured, including 25 police.