Day after bandh, protests rage in Una

Gujarat continues to boil over the thrashing of a youth by self-appointed cow protectors in Una on July 11 as Dalits held rallies and dharnas across the state despite a bandh on Wednesday.

The police registered 48 cases so far against the rioters, with state additional DGP in-charge of Law and Order, V M Pargi stating that most these cases were registered against crowds of 50 to 100 people.

Bus torching and stone pelting have been reported from many places, prompting police to explode tear gas shells to control the crowds.

Local administration in many districts issued prohibitory orders, while one more person in Ahmedabad consumed poison as a mark of protest against the Una incident.

Unidentified rioters burnt three state transport buses in Mehsana district, an hour’s drive from capital Gandhinagar, as authorities suspended bus services between Rajkot and Ahmedabad following blockades along the national highways. The bus services were paralysed following the blockade in Khatariya village near Limbdi that connects saurashtra to South and Central Gujarat. Thousands took to streets in Saurashtra, as skirmishes were reported from Talala town in Gir Somnath, Kutiyana in Porbandar and Amreli district. Police fired tear gas to control the mob in Keshod town in Junagadh.

District Collector of Surendranagar, where a rally has planned on Friday to condemn the Una incident, announced curfew under Section 144 that prohibits assembly of more than four people. There was stone pelting in Dholka town in Ahmedabad district, prompting police to use teargas to disperse the crowd.

The town remained tense as police allegedly entered homes of the rioters, beat them up and detained them. Several women gheraoed the police station where nearly 50 men were detained.

They used rolling pins and utensils to demand the release of the protesters. SI R J Shukla filed an FIR against 300 people for rioting and damaging public property. In Surat, a group of protesters flooded the railway track at Udhna junction, disrupting train services till the police intervened. Dalits held rallies in Vadodra and Patan.