New Delhi - More than 150 people were arrested and a dozen
injured as groups clashed with the police and attacked railway
stations across India's eastern state of Bihar on Saturday to protest
attacks on migrants in the financial capital of Mumbai, news reports
said.
Mobs of students vandalized railway stations and blocked rail and
road traffic as part of a shutdown called to protest attacks by the
right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party (MNS).
'Over 150 students were arrested across the state and some student
leaders were also taken into custody early on Saturday. In state
capital Patna alone, 25 students were arrested,' a police official
told the IANS news agency.
About a dozen people were injured in clashes with police. A total
of 30 people have been wounded during protests in various parts of
Bihar state in the last five days.
Six criminal complaints were also filed against the MNS chief Raj
Thackeray, who was arrested near Maharashtra capital Mumbai on
Tuesday for inciting the attacks on migrant workers.
He was later released on bail. Among the complaints was one filed
by the father by a youth who was allegedly killed by MNS activists in
Mumbai.
The ideology of MNS is based on their belief that Maharashtrians
are superior in race and culture to others in India and deserve more
rights in the state than migrants.
On Friday, scores of slogan-shouting students blocked roads and
forcibly shut down shops in Patna as well as five other districts in
Bihar.
Days of widespread protests have seen angry student mobs
vandalizing railways property to disrupt movement of at least 200
trains in the region.
Officials told the IANS news agency that protestors ransacked
railways stations in four districts including Darbhanga and
Lakhisarai to enforce the shutdown on Saturday.
Baton-wielding police charged protestors at the Darbhanga and
Sheikhupura railways stations after students threw stones at them.
There was heavy police deployment in Patna where most of the
educational institutions were closed.
'We have deployed additional 5,000 police personnel and directed
them to use force against troublemakers and not allow anyone to
create violence,' senior police official Amit Kumar told the IANS.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story