JOIN USCops cane agitators as stir turns violent
The agitation was in protest against the failure of the State government to meet the demands of the workers in the unorganised sector.
As many as 19 persons, including six women, were injured when the police resorted to lathicharge as the rally turned violent in Hassan. The condition of two persons is said to be serious and they have been admitted to the hospital for treatment.
The incident occurred when more than 3,000 people from various parts of the district had come to the city to participate in the rally. Everything was fine till the rally reached the office of deputy commissioner. Trouble began when the agitators demanded that they should be allowed inside the premises, for which the police said no. This enraged the agitators who picked up an argument with the cops. At the same time, some people tried to gatecrash into the DC’s office.
The police then resorted to lathicharge and dispersed the mob. They beat up the agitators including women black and blue.
Probe sought
Meanwhile, CITU district president demanded the State government to order a judicial probe into the incident and also suitable compensation for those who were injured in lathi-charge.
He said the lathicharge was ‘uncalled for’ as the agitators had been holding the protest peacefully.
In Raichur, 12 activists and 18 police personnel were injured when the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesting unorganised sector workers in front of the deputy commissioner’s office.
When the workers gathered from the five taluks of the district to stage protest under the banner of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) tried to picket the deputy commissioner’s office, the police restricted them.
Some of the irate workers entered the office from the backside door and damaged the furniture inside the deputy commissioner’s chamber.
The workers also started throwing stone and the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the stone-pelting mob. Some vehicles were also damaged in the incident, while the deputy commissioner’s office window pane was broken. The police also took some activists into custody. The injured have been admitted to the government hospital.
In Gulbarga, the demonstration organised by the district committee of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) took a violent turn with police resorting to lathicharge on the agitating workers.
Several persons including a police constable and a Taluk Panchayat member were injured in the lathicharge which was followed by stone throwing by the agitated workers.
More than 100 persons have been arrested in this connection and they were being produced before the magistrate.
DH News Service