NEW DELHI – A temple in southern India and one of the largest Hindu pilgrimage centers in the world opened their doors to women of childbearing age on Wednesday to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court, but the women could not enter because hundreds of protesters fought in street fights. with the police to prevent them from entering.

As the doors of the Sabarimala Temple opened, a crowd of worshipers rushed to the temple. About 1,000 police officers used batons to try to control the protesters, who attacked them with stones, damaged police and television vehicles and incited the devotees to take on the feat.

The protesters ran after the media vehicles, hitting them with their hands and kicking them to prevent them from reaching the temple site.

The Minister of Industry, E.P. Jayarajan, told the press agency Press Trust of India that at least 10 journalists and photojournalists had been injured and their equipment damaged.

Police arrested 11 protesters while they were trying to block the passage of some women.

The temple will remain open for monthly prayers from five days until October 22nd.

Republic TV's Pooja Prasaanna said the protesters threw stones at a police van where she and her crew members were sheltered after their car was shot at and ripped off police batons when they tried to protect them.

The New Delhi television channel reported that about twenty protesters surrounded a bus in which a Newsminute News reporter was traveling and attempted to get her out. Angry protesters kicked him and abused him, NDTV reported.

The entry of women aged 10 to 50 in the centenary temple was banned informally for many years, then by law in 1972.

In 1991, the High Court of Kerala upheld the ban. The Supreme Court of India lifted the ban last month, saying that equality was the rule, regardless of age and sex.

Temple management and protesters say that the unmarried nature of the temple deity, Lord Ayyappa, is protected by the Indian Constitution. Some religious figures consider that women who have their period are impure.

Meghna Pant, an activist, said that the celibacy of the deity was not more important than the equality of women. "Who are the men to decide where women can go or not?" she says.

Proponents of the ban are unhappy with the government's decision not to seek a review of the Supreme Court's decision.

Rahul Easwar, a temple attorney, urged dedicated women not to enter the temple and to give the temple authorities another petition before next week to file a petition for review in the Supreme Court.

Sabarimala is surrounded by mountains and dense forests, at the location of the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Nearly 50 million worshipers visit the temple each year.

A number of temples in India have banned women, saying the policy was aimed at preserving the purity of their sanctuaries. Operators of a state temple in northwestern Rajasthan believe that the Hindu god Kartikeya insults women who enter the temple instead of blessing them.

Indian secular courts have recently intervened in cases in which the beliefs of one religion were considered discriminatory.