Protest by BJYM over mass conversions

CHANDIGARH, May 25: Police intervention defused a potentially violent confrontation at the Sector 30 Begumpura Hall here this evening when some 200 members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the Bajrang Dal gathered there to protest "misleading propaganda" by the Changai Sabha which they alleged was resulting in mass conversions.

Several times the protesters threatened to barge into the Hall to stop the on-going Sabha meeting, but the strong posse of police foiled their attempts. Some of the protesters threw stones at the hall and the policemen but, according to police sources, nobody was injured.

Trouble began around 6 p.m. when the Changai Sabha programme began and by 7.30, the police had dispersed the crowd.

Morcha president Satinder Singh accused the sabha of making "people living in the colonies their soft targets. They assure them that even their congenital diseases will disappear if they adopt Christianity. They also promise them admissions in schools among other things."