Bareilly, March 16 (IANS) Curfew in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district was relaxed for eight hours Tuesday for only the second time since it was imposed two weeks ago following a communal clash, authorities said.

'As situation is turning normal, we today (Tuesday) decided to relax the curfew from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.,' Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) (Bareilly Range) Rajiv Sabharwal told reporters.

The curfew was first relaxed Monday.

'We are reviewing the situation along with the district authorities at regular intervals. If the situation remains peaceful, we may make further relaxations in the curfew enforced in the areas of five police stations - Prem Nagar, Subhashnagar, Kila, Kotwali and Baradari,' he said.

According to police, during the relaxation hours, the movement of vehicles other than bicycles and pedal-rickshaws was prohibited.

'We are in touch with the heads of educational institutions as our priority remains the resumption of schools and colleges that were closed after the curfew was clamped (March 2),' Inspector General (Bareilly Range) Bhanu Pratap Singh told reporters.

'No fresh violence has been reported in the last three days. The situation is well under control,' he added.

The last violence was reported Friday evening when at least 15 people, including a senior police officer, were injured in clashes between police and protesters.

The protesters were agitating against the release of Muslim cleric Maulana Tauquir Raza Khan, president of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, who was arrested for his alleged role in the communal clashes.

Khan gave a 'rabble rousing speech' that led to communal violence in parts of Bareilly, police said.

'We have deployed adequate security personnel in all the sensitive areas of the district. At present, there are nearly 18 officials of the rank of SP (superintendent of police)/Commandant, four deputy SPs, seven inspectors, 265 constables and 10 Station House Officers (SHOs), deployed in parts of the district,' a senior police officer told IANS.

A minor communal clash followed by sporadic arson March 2 afternoon led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of Bareilly city.

Trouble sparked off over the passage of a Barawafat procession. What started with an exchange of hot words between members of rival communities almost instantly snowballed into a violent clash as members of a particular community went on an arson spree, burning down a few shops.