Chamarajnagar: Police fired teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse a mob during a group clash near Santhemarahalli Circle in Chamarajnagar district on Sunday.

It all started when members of a particular community put up flexes and an entrance arch with pictures of their seer and religious heads. This enraged youths of another community.

What began as a war of words soon escalated into a full-blown fight, with the two groups pelting stones at each other. A few youths also came out with sickles and wooden logs, but were stopped from causing further damage by the police, who rushed to the spot.

Sub-inspector Mahadevappa and four constables were injured in the clash. Superintendent of Police Rangaswamy Nayak and Additional Deputy Commissioner Bharathi arrived at the spot and ordered the removal of the arch.

Enraged over this, the women and children staged a protest and demanded that the arch be erected again.

Chamarajnagar MLA C Puttaranga Shetty visited the spot and appealed to them to call off the stir.

The situation grew tense again when miscreants threw bottles at the agitating women and damaged a few houses. The police then fired teargas shells and caned the mob. They clamped prohibitory orders in the area, deployed additional forces, and took 23 people into custody.

Meanwhile, District Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad and MP R Dhruvanarayan held a peace meeting which was attended by leaders of both the communities. He also promised compensation to the affected families.