(Updates with death) By Jatindra Dash BHUBANESWAR, India, Sept 25 (Reuters) - One person was killed and several injured on Thursday when Hindus and Christians clashed in an eastern Indian state where religious violence has killed more than 20 people in the past month. The violence is the latest in a string of attacks on Christians in three Indian states that has left dozens of churches damaged. Christians have responded with some violence in Orissa state. Police said Thursday's death was reported from Sirsapanka village in Orissa's rural Kandhamal district after two groups clashed. Several houses were also set on fire. "One person died in the clash," Kandhamal's police chief S. Praveen Kumar told Reuters. Officials said Hindu crowds had rioted with police through Wednesday night and also attacked Christians following the shooting by police of a Hindu protester over attacks on Christians. Hindus have been demanding the release of their leaders arrested on charges of attacking Christians over the past month. "Some houses were damaged overnight," Krishan Kumar, Kandhamal's chief administrator, told Reuters. Police dispersed a mob of hundreds trying to set fire to houses in the area. The attacks on Christians in India have been condemned by Pope Benedict and Roman Catholic bishops have urged the European Union to treat persecution of Christians as a humanitarian emergency. But violence has continued, especially in Kandhamal where thousands of Christians now live in government camps because their homes are destroyed or they are too fearful to return. India does not have a long history of attacks on Christians, but intolerance has risen in the past two decades with a revival of Hindu nationalism. Many Hindu nationalists say they are determined to fight Christian missionaries they accuse of converting poor Indians. Christians say lower-caste Hindus convert willingly to escape discrimination. In the southern state of Karnataka, at least 20 churches have been burnt by Hindu mobs in the past 10 days and authorities said they were still trying to restore order in some areas. Hindu nationalists rule outright or share power in the three states where Christians have come under attack. The central government in New Delhi has asked the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party state government in Karnataka to do more to stop religious violence. (Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Students of Jamia Milia Islamia University hold India's national flag and a placard during a peace march in New Delhi September 25, 2008. Hundreds of students on Thursday participated in the ...
