Gandhinagar, Nov 26 : At least a dozen people were reportedly injured when followers of Asaram Bapu, the religious guru of the country, staged a protest and clashed with the police here on Thursday.

The trouble broke when police stopped the followers of the Asaram Bapu stopped while they were on their way to the District Collector''s Secretariat to submit a memorandum.

The memorandum was against a defamatory campaign launched by a local newspaper.

The protestors allegedly did not heed to the police and resorted to violence at which the police had to resort to baton charge to control the agitating mob.

Police also fired twelve rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the protestors.

"The demand of the rally is to boycott the ''Sandesh'' a newspaper which has launched a malicious campaign against our saint Asaram Babu. The ill-campaign should immediately stop and conspirators must be apprehended,” said Ashok, Asaram Bapu Mission’s Public Relations Officer.

“We will also submit a memorandum to this effect to the Governor of the State, Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and the State''s Home Minister Amin Shah,” he added.

The injured have been admitted to the Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Hospital.

Meanwhile, the district administration has initiated an inquiry into the incident. (ANI)