Truck, chairs for anti-CAA meet gutted in fire

A truck loaded with chairs brought for protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, was gutted in fire in the early hours of Monday at Derlakatte in Mangaluru.

Sources in Konaje police station said that Citizenship Protection Committee had organised a protest meeting at Derlakatte on Sunday evening. The plastic chairs, shamiyana etc brought for the event were loaded onto a truck. The truck was parked at a corner of Jalalbagh ground. The owner had planned to shift the chairs and shamiyana to Adyar grounds where a similar protest was planned on January 15.

However, truck and as many as 2,500 plastic chairs loaded in it were reduced to smithereens after a fire broke out in the vehicle around 3.30 in the morning.

The leaders of the committee on Monday alleged that miscreants who were against the protest had set the vehicle on fire. Tension prevailed in the area for a while after protesters prevented police from shifting the completely gutted truck to Konaje police station.

Additional Commissioner of Police ACP Kodandarama told the protesters that meetings against CAA had been held in the city peacefully. “Some vandals are attempting to disturb law and order. We will make earnest efforts to track down them,” he said.