A rowdy fracas broke out between residents and the authorities over the demolition of a temple near Shah Alam today resulting in at least four injured and eight arrested.

Several hundred police personnel and local council authorities clashed with the residents who sought to stop the demolition of the 100-year temple in Padang Jawa.

Workers from the Shah Alam City Hall had demolished the village's Sri Maha Mariaman temple without a valid court order, said Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) in a statement today. It added that the area looked like a "war zone".

According to Hindraf, at least 300 police personnel and council workers had cordoned off the temple this morning.

It said council workers began hurling stones and beating devotees with sticks and batons when they tried to halt the demolition.

According to T Ganaraw, a lawyer who was at the scene, the demolition work began early in the morning but stopped temporarily to allegedly allow residents to remove the temple's deities.

Demolition works continued at about 2pm. The fracas was in full swing by 4pm, involving over 400 residents.

"The police were armed with automatic rifles. The temple is completely smashed up, including the temple nursery," said Ganaraw.

Samy went to negotiate

According to Ganaraw, present during the fracas were representatives from DAP and MIC, including Klang councillor Alex Thiagarajan, who tried to negotiate with the police.

MIC president S Samy Vellu also visited the village at about 5pm when it was clear that racial tension was raising.

Contacted today, DAP lawyer A Sivanesan said at least eight residents have been arrested and detained at Section 11 police station in Shah Alam.

He said the MIC president had tried to calm residents by telling them that he had spoken to both Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Selangor Mentri Besar Khir Toyo on the matter.

"Samy Vellu however told me Khir was not cooperative at all," said Sivanesan.

The temple chairperson was K Sivalingam, the late assemblyperson for Ijok. His position has since been replaced by Selangor executive councillor Kamala Ganapathy.

"When we checked with the authorities, the notice to demolish was dated November 2005. But the demolition was only meant for the houses there," said Sivanesan.

Hindraf also said that at 4am today, another 160-year-old Jai Muniswarar Hindu temple in Taman Puchong Hartamas was demolished.

Over the past few years, a number of temples, some of which were more than a century old, had been demolished by the local authorities as they were built illegally.