JOIN USOver 50 people, including BJP workers, policemen and scribes, were injured when the BJP youth wing workers clashed with the police on Monday during a protest against the “poor” law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
The protest took place in front of the Vidhan Sabha where a large number of police personnel had been deployed as the House was in session.
According to police sources, the saffron party workers tried to break the barricades and enter the Assembly premises, prompting lathi charge.
The police used water canons and fired tear gas to disperse the workers. The BJP workers, in turn, indulged in heavy stone-pelting, injuring several cops and media personnel.
Several government and private vehicles were damaged in the clashes that turned the busy Vidhan Sabha Marg into a virtual war zone. The entire stretch of the road was littered with stones, empty tear gas shells and sandals of the fleeing workers.
The BJP leaders, however, claim that the lathi charge was unprovoked. “We were holding a peaceful demonstration....the Samajwadi Party regime wants to crush our democratic rights by using force”, said Vijay Bahadur Pathak, a senior state BJP leader here. The BJP will hold demonstrations at all district headquarters in the state on Tuesday to register its protest against the police ‘brutality’, he said. “We are trying to identify the trouble mongers with the help of video footage...we will take stern action against them”, police officials said.
Some scribes were seen bleeding after being hit by stones while at least one OB van of a TV channel was damaged in the clash.