On day 3, city dodges violence

An uneasy calm prevailed in the city on Thursday after two days of arson and violence in which mobs went berserk setting fire to vehicles and pelting stones at shops and malls to protest against the release of Padmaavat, the movie.

The eastern part of the city, however, saw some protest.

The police had sanitised the entire city by deploying more than 1,500 personnel in all theatres and malls to maintain law and order. KNL Rao, Sector-1 JCP, said, "Everything was peaceful; nothing major was reported in the city."

There was mixed reaction to the bandh call as majority of shops and malls remained open but some theatres kept their shutters down.

Divay Mishra, DCP Zone-1, said, "The deployment was done at the theatres and malls in the eastern part, as most 
of the theatres there remained closed. Till now, no report any protest or violence has come in; everything has been normal in the area."

However, an AMTS bus was vandalised by protesters in the eastern parts of the city. But the situation was controlled by the police. Around 10.45 am, a group of 50 Rajput protesters reached the Nikol area to shut down shops, but they were dispersed by the police.

As per NN Parghi, Inspector of Nikol police station: "The protesters asked the shop owners to follow the bandh call. But by that time police reached the spot and protesters managed to flee from the spot."

An incident of stone-pelting was reported from the Hirawadi area of the city. However, Bapunagar Police Inspector VJ Jadeja said they have not received any such information.