Hundreds of policemen patrolled the streets of the southern Indian town of Mangalore and adjoining areas to maintain peace on Tuesday after weekend attacks on Christian churches followed by violent protests, officials and news reports said, reported dpa.
At least 14 churches were ransacked by suspected activists of the Hindu right-wing Bajrang Dal organization in Mangalore, Udipi and Chikmagalur districts of the southern state of Karnataka on Sunday.
The Bajrang Dal activists said they were protesting against forced conversion by Christian missionaries in the region.
The attack on churches provoked protests by Christian groups in Managalore Monday, as demonstrators threw stones in clashes with police and Hindu activists. At least 40 people including 20 policemen were injured, local police official AM Prasad said.
The protestors said the local administration and police were not doing enough to protect minorities in the state, which has a Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Coastal Karnataka has always been communally sensitive and there have been Hindu-Christian clashes in the past.
Authorities issued orders banning gatherings of large groups of people across Mangalore district until Wednesday, an official at the district police control room said.
He said more than 50 people had been arrested for the attacks on churches Sunday and another 100 were arrested Monday for violating prohibitory orders.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yedurappa said action would be taken against those responsible for the attack on churches, but asked missionaries not to indulge in forcible conversions, PTI news agency reported.
The attack on churches in Karnataka comes close on the heels of large-scale clashes between the two communities in the eastern state of Orissa.
At least 25 people have been killed and scores of churches and houses set on fire in Orissa's Khandamal district since August 24.
Reports of violence continued to come in from Khandamal, with IANS news agency reporting that a policeman was killed when an armed mob torched a police station and set fire to several vehicles in Gochapada on Monday night.
Three people were also killed on Saturday when police fired on a mob of Hindus activists who were trying to attack Christian residents of Krutamgarh.
Khandamal district lies about 400 kilometres west of Orissa capital Bhubaneshwar.
An estimated 24 million people in India are Christians comprising about 2.3 per cent of the country's 1.1 billion population, a majority of whom are Hindus.
