1,500 Shiv Senas detained

The activists were campaigning to build a temple over the ruins of a razed mosque, an official said Saturday.

Senior police official Kailash Nath Dwivedi told AFP that activists of the regional Shiv Sena (Army of the god Shiva) party had been banned from organising a convention of the devotees of another Hindu god Ram at Ayodhya.

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"The arrests began yesterday (Friday) morning as the Shiv Sainiks were trying to break the ban," he said adding about 1,500 of them had been detained.

Most of the activists from the state of Uttar Pradesh, where Ayodhya is situated, had begun to assemble in Ayodhya on Thursday, Dwivedi said.

Slogans like: "Ram, we will come and construct the temple," rent the air as the police rounded up the Shiv Sainiks, witnesses said.

The Shiv Sena is a major political force in the western state of Maharashtra and is an ally of India's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

PTI adds: About 185 VHP activists, including 35 women, were yesterday arrested at Kanpur Central railway station while they were proceeding to Ayodhya, the police said in Kanpur.

The VHP activists, led by Sidheswar Swami of Ram Janam Bhumi Nirman Sanghash Samiti, were travelling from Warrangal by Rapti Sagar Express when they were apprehended by the cops checking all trains leading to Lucknow.

All the arrested persons were taken to Mandi Parishad campu in Naubasta, the police said.

The demolition of the 16th century mosque sparked nationwide riots in which about 2,000 people were killed.