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Central & South Asia
Police shoot protesters in India
Eight dead after demostration over land rights in Andhra Pradesh turns violent.
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2007 11:37 GMT
One official said police fired on protesters as they started throwing stones [AFP]
Police have opened fire on protesters in southern India, killing at least eight people, officials said.

The relatives of those shot dead protested against police violence by laying the bodies of victims in front of a government office.
The rally on Saturday in Mudigonda, a small village in Andhra Pradesh state, was organised by two Indian communist parties as part of a campaign to press the government to give land to the poor.
K. Jana Reddy, the state's minister for home affairs, said that when officers approached protesters in Mudigonda, they started throwing stones at the police, who responded by opening fire.

Inquiry

Witnesses said bodies were strewn in and around the tent where protesters gathered.

Officials said that at least eight people had either been killed at the scene or died from wounds sustained in the shooting.

"We have ordered an inquiry in to the incident and we will take action if the police are found guilty of excessive use of force," Reddy said in the state capital, Hyderabad.

Saturday's protest followed a similar rally on Friday in which police clashed with demonstrators, prompting the communist and other opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh to call a general strike, closing businesses and emptying roads across the state.
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