Police guard airport after Hurley wedding scuffles

Dozens of police guarded the airport where actress Elizabeth Hurley was due to leave the desert city of Jodhpur yesterday after a brief battle between reporters and security guards overshadowed her Hindu wedding.

Hurley, 41, married Indian businessman Arun Nayar, 42, last Friday in a lavish ceremony where the groom trotted down the aisle on a horse, wrapping up a week of celebrations in India after their civil wedding last week at a castle in England.

Scuffles broke out on Friday night after the wedding ceremony when one woman reporter claimed she had been hit by a guard and some 50 journalists tried to storm the Meherangarh Fort where wedding guests were settling down for a traditional meal.

Tensions between journalists and wedding organisers had been high during the week after journalists were banned from having access to the ceremonies in the desert state of Rajasthan.

The wedding sparked some controversy in Rajasthan's state assembly, where a communist politician dubbed the event a symbol of feudalism, the PTI news agency reported.

The couple's two-night stopover in Mumbai earlier in the week was also immersed in problems after authorities tore down part of a venue built to host the wedding party because it infringed on a popular beach.