Bhubaneswar: Police arrested five activists of Bajrang Dal for staging protest during the arrival of the European Union diplomats at Bhubaneswar airport on Tuesday evening.

The 11-member EU delegation is slated to visit the riot-torn Kandhamal district on Thursday to interact with the riot victims.

But the VHP and Bajrang Dal (youth wing of VHP) are in no mood to see the presence of the foreign diplomats at the sensitive zone saying that the tour could trigger fresh tension in the district.

They had even threatened to protest during the arrival of the EU team in Orissa and demanded that the government should scrap the permission given to the diplomats to visit Kandhamal. 
      
Maintaining that peace had returned to the tribal dominated district after prolonged violence following the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Swaraswati, VHP leaders said the visit would only spark off fresh tension in the region.

The diplomats, who belonged to Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Poland and Hungary, were whisked away from the airport to their hotel amid tight security. Apart from visiting Kandhamal, the diplomats are slated to meet Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, State Chief Secretary T K Mishra and Home Secretary A P Padhy and DGP Manmohan Praharaj.

Security would be beefed up during the team's proposed visit to Kandhamal on Thursday. "We would arrange better security for the EU team during their visit to Kandhamal," Kandhamal district collector, Dr Krishna Kumar said.

Riots erupted in the aftermath of VHP leader Laxmananada Saraswati's assassination on August 23, 2008 in Kandhamal. While nearly 38 people were killed, a number of houses damaged during the peak of communal strife in the district.

Source : OTV Bureau
Date : Feb 02, 2010