Mumbai Bandh: Strong police bandobast fails to deter protesters

Flames rise inside a police chowki after Maratha Kranti Morcha protesters clashed with police personnel during a protest called for reservations in jobs and education, in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Pic/PTI

The Maximum City nearly shut down yesterday, with incidents witnessed at 45 places and the police detaining 447 protesters. The bandh was called off in the afternoon, but not before an attempt to torch a BEST bus.

Protests had started with agitators taking to roads, trying to disrupt traffic. They walked across the streets in Dadar, Lalbaug, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivli, Mulund and Bhandup to force shops to down shutters.

The Mumbai Police had deployed 36 platoons of State Reserve Police Force, 10 platoons of Reserve Force from the Local Arms Unit, three gas squads, and a bomb diffuse squad across the city.

"There were 45 different incidents of protests in Mumbai, from which we detained 447 protesters," said DCP (PRO) Deepak Devraj. "At Mohite-Patil Nagar in Mankhurd, protesters tried to torch a BEST bus. We are in the process of registering an FIR in this connection."

Two MLAs quit
Sena legislator from Kannad near Aurangabad, Harvardhan Jadhav, sent his resignation to the Speaker on Wednesday, citing a 'lukewarm response' from the BJP government. He had demanded that an ordinance for Maratha reservation be promulgated by Wednesday afternoon, or else he would quit the House. The Speaker's office hadn't confirmed the receipt and acceptance of Jadhav's resignation. Following Jadhav, Bhausaheb Patil of NCP (Vaijapur) resigned as MLA over Maratha reservation.
Dharmendra Jore

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