Swordfight in ‘holy’ event at India Sikh temple + pics

Sword-wielding Sikhs in India clashed at the Golden Temple in Amritsar while holding a prayer ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a bloody military assault on the holy compound.
Video and photo images of the event showed the Sikhs swinging their swords wildly at one another on the steps of the temple in the northern state of Punjab.
At least six people, among them a police chief constable, were injured in the clashes, said Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special) Harjit Singh Brar, local news media reported.
The violence was reportedly triggered following disagreements over a microphone and who should be the first speaker at the sanctified ceremony.
“Today we were supposed to have a solemn remembrance for the martyrs of 1984, so what has happened is very sad,” said Prem Singh Chandumajra, spokesman for Punjab state’s ruling party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in remarks made to reporters regarding the event.
” The temple has once again been dishonored today,” he added.
Hundreds of people, including more than 80 soldiers, were killed at the site on June 6, 1984 in a government military effort code-named Operation Blue Star, aiming to purge the temple of Sikh separatists, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Sikhs, however, insist that many more were killed during ensuing clashes, placing the figure at over 1,000.

Events culminated in the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in October 1984. In subsequent November anti-Sikh riots across Delhi, some 3,000 were killed.