Protests were reported from Worli area in Mumbai on Thursday morning. Protestors pelted stones and damaged passing vehicles.
Updated at 11 pm
MUMBAI/HUBLI: Four persons were killed and 60 persons were injured in violence across Maharashtra, as protests against the alleged desecration of BR Ambedkar's statue in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur continued for the second day on Thursday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is in Singapore on an official visit, is cutting short his trip and returning home on Friday. He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had spoken to him.
Four persons were killed, including two in police firing in Osmanabad, since Wednesday night and 1,500 people were arrested in connection with the violence in Maharashtra, Director General of Police Dr PS Pasricha said.
One person was run over by a truck when he was trying to stop vehicles in Nanded, while one person was beaten up by shopkeepers at Pimpri-Chinchwad, as he was forcing them to close down their business establishments, he said.
Curfew was imposed in many parts of the state, including Nanded and Pimpri in Pune, which witnessed protests following the desecration on Wednesday.
"Five coaches of the Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen were burned by protestors at Ulhasnagar, during a rail roko in the afternoon," a Central Railway spokesperson said.
No one was injured in the incident, he said.
Protestors told people to get out of the train before setting the coaches on fire.
Police fired in the air to disperse the demonstrators.
Railway police said some compartments of a local train were also torched by protestors.
In Mumbai, protests were reported from Worli. Protestors pelted stones and damaged vehicles, police said. Over 90 buses were damaged in the city.
Groups of 15 to 20 people protested against the Kanpur incident in Dalit-dominated pockets in the north and northeast parts of Mumbai, police said.
Incidents of stonepelting and roadblocks were reported in Kanjur Marg, Mulund, Bhandup, Navghar, Chembur, Kurla and Worli, they said.
Ten vehicles, including some BEST buses, were damaged when mobs attacked them on Wednesday.
Minor incidents of stonepelting have been reported on the suburban rail network between Bhandup and Mulund stations, railway police officials said.
In Kherwadi in Bandra (East), 15 to 20 agitators pelted stones on passing vehicles.
There have been calls for a bandh, by Dalit organisations in the city.
Similar incidents were reported from neighbouring Thane district, police said.
Corporation-run buses were off the roads due to stonepelting. Auto-rickshaws were also not plying in the city.
Protestors have forced shops and establishments to down shutters and only emergency services are operating.
Protests have also been reported from the satellite township of Navi Mumbai.
Reports of traffic snarls and stonepelting were reported from Turbhe, Rable, Tigart and on the Thane-Belapur Road, the police said.
Buses of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport and auto-rickshaws were off the road.
Protests by people in Dapodi, Khirkee and Pimpri affected train services between Pune and Mumbai in the morning, railway sources said.
The trains whose services were affected included Deccan Express, Inter-City and Pragati, they said.
Agitators squatted on the tracks at Dapodi, Khirkee and Pimpri.
Rapid Action Force personnel went to the spots and cleared the tracks, sources said.
In Nanded town, Marathwada, authorities imposed curfew from 5 am on Thursday as a "precautionary" measure in view of the protests in the town.
The curfew will continue till 7 pm, Nanded Superintendent of Police Fatehsinh Patil said.
Eight people have been injured in stonepelting over the desecration, he said.
In Aurangabad, police fired one round in the air on Wednesday night to disperse 1,000 Dalit protestors demonstrating at Mukundwadi.
According to police, the protestors gathered on Jalna Road in Mukundwadi at around 9 pm and subsequently some of them began pelting stones at vehicles.
A police team that reached the spot around 10 pm failed to pacify the protesters, who turned their ire against the police contingent.
In the ensuing melee, six persons, including sub-inspector and a constable, were injured, prompting the police to fire in the air.
The injured were admitted to a city hospital.
Curfew has been clamped and extra police forces deployed in Nandurbar town after a demonstration by Dalit organizations in the morning took a violent turn, police said.
Twenty-four persons were injured in the violence.
The protestors, who marched to the district collector's office, pelted stones on shops and vehicles, they said.
In Nashik district, Dalit activists tried to set on fire a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation bus in Ambad, police said.
Protesters had damaged 100 vehicles and set on fire one MSRTC bus at Sinnar-Phata on Wednesday.
MSRTC suspended its city bus service to routes in Nashik, affecting commuters, after suffering heavy losses in the protests, officials said.
Stonepelting was reported in Bhim Nagar in Nashik, where commercial establishments and banks remained closed. The functioning of educational institutions too was affected, police said.
Three persons were arrested for allegedly lynching Dalit youth Rangnath Shankar Dhale, 23, on Wednesday night on Jail Road after he was found pelting stones at vehicles, police said.
Dhale's body was brought to the Nashik Civil Hospital for autopsy and will be cremated later in the day.
Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil has told the police to take measures to ensure that the law and order situation in the state remains under control, a Home Department official said.
Public Works Department Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who is also guardian minister of Nashik, has been touring trouble-torn areas and taking stock of the situation of the city, officials said.
Republican Party of India leaders Dadabhau Nikam and Priya Kirti Tribhuvan urged people to remain calm and assist the police to normalise the situation.
Eight state transport buses were damaged and vehicular traffic was disrupted for over two hours in Hubli, Karnataka, when activists of Dalit organisations took out a procession, condemning the defiling of a statue in
Kanpur.
During the procession, an argument broke out between the police and the agitators, resulting in stone pelting in which eight buses were damaged. Following the melee, most of the shops on the procession route downed shutters.
The situation was brought under control after senior police officials intervened.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}