The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) claimed that their rally on Wednesday would have been peaceful, but police suppression led to their activists resorting to pulling down English nameboards.
Dinesh Kumar, KRV’s organising secretary, told DH that they had planned a peaceful protest and rally to raise awareness about Kannada signboards on Wednesday and had instructed their members not to vandalise anything unless they were stopped.
“Police tried to suppress our voices, hence we went on with removing English name boards,” he alleged.
“When our members were detained near Sadahalli, others were instructed to start protesting inside the city,” he said. KRV claimed in a release that more than 1000 English signposts were pulled down by its members.
Dinesh Kumar said that they had launched a drive in November against English nameboards and had been visiting shops and business establishments since then.
He said, “The newly inaugurated mall in Hebbal went to court and we received a notice. That is when we met the BBMP commissioner and requested to implement the law strictly.”
Earlier on Sunday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced the enforcement of the 60 per cent Kannada signage in name boards of commercial establishments and set February 28, 2024, as the deadline to implement the same.
As of 8 pm on Wednesday, five cases were booked with two cases in the Northeast division and one each in the Southeast, Central and West divisions. The cases were booked under IPC sections 427(Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 143 (unlawful assembly), and 341 (wrongful restraint).
When a police officer tried to stop a protestor from vandalising a name board, the protestor allegedly spat on the policeman. Police have opened a case and arrested the protestor. In another incident, a man was detained for attempting to deflate a BMTC bus tyre.
When the protest turned
violent, police resorted to detentions and it went on till late in the evening. Initially, police bandobast was made for the Sadahalli, however, eventually, they had to extend and call for more backups. Traffic was also disrupted.
Published 27 December 2023, 22:44 IST