19 dead in northern India after clashes between protesters, police

(Image credit: Twitter.com/EconomicTimes)

published 3 June 2016

Police in northern India say 19 people died Thursday during violent clashes between officers and illegal occupiers of government land.

Daljit Chaudhary, the top state police officer, said two police officers are among the dead, and more than 100 people are injured. The clashes took place in Mathura, a town 200 miles southwest of the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. Chaudhary said 3,000 protesters faced off against police officers, there on a court order to retake the land after nearly two years of occupation, and 11 people were killed when cooking gas cylinders blew up.

More than 370 people were arrested, The Associated Press reports, and things only settled down after more than 500 additional police officers arrived in town.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.