From correspondents in Gujarat, India, 09:30 PM IST

Expressing solidarity with protesters in Jammu, over 17,000 Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists courted arrest in Gujarat Thursday, state VHP president Dilipbhai Trivedi said.

In Ahmedabad about 3,000 activists had courted arrest, Trivedi told IANS, adding that all were released later in the afternoon.

Protesters in Jammu have been demanding the restoration of revoked land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for pilgrim facilities. The Jammu and Kashmir government, after transferring forest land to the board in May, had backtracked July 1 following violent protests in the Kashmir valley.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)