Hindu hardliners block Indian temple to women

SABARIMALA TEMPLE, India: Hindu hardliners blocked intersections, threatened drivers, threw stones at buses and ordered a 12-hour strike on Thursday to successfully bar women from one of India’s holiest temples for a second day.

The Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in the southern state of Kerala was meant to allow women of all ages -- and not just those under 10 and over 50 as before -- from Wednesday following an order by India’s highest court last month.

But hundreds of traditionalists, throwing stones at baton-wielding police, defied the order -- blocking the path, surrounding and shouting at any woman attempting to make it to the hilltop site.

Angry young men also surrounded and smashed the car windows of female television reporters and threatened others, including an AFP reporter. Another female correspondent was kicked.