Dalit protests: Maharashtra on the boil

Protestors blocked the arterial Western Express Highway in Bandra on Thursday morning

Police fired tear gas and lathicharged the mobs to bring the situation under control.

Police beating a rioter in Mumbai's Bhandup suburb.

Protestors blocked roads and trains in many parts of Bhiwandi, Thane.

Two boggies of Deccan Queen burnt near Ulhasnagar.

November 30, Rediff.com

Incidents of violence were reported from various parts of the Mahrashtra as protests against the alleged desecration of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur.

Earlier in the day curfew was imposed in many parts including Nanded and Pimpri area in Pune, which witnessed violent protests following the desecration of the statue.

Soon the wave of violence also hit Mumbai city and its neighbouring disticts like Thane and New Mumbai.

Several parts of Mumbai have reported incidents of stone pelting since this morning.

From nearby Thane district to Worli in central Mumbai and the Western Express Highway in Bandra, incidents of stone pelting, burning of public transport buses were resported.

The police resorted to lathicharge on protestors in places such as Kanjurmarg, Mulund, Kherwadi, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Chembur and Goregaon.

Protestors reportedly set afire several compartments of the Deccan Queen Express near Ulhasnagar on Mumbai's outskirts. There were no reports of any casualties. This affected the train services between Kalyan and Karjat.

Meanwhile Nashik city in Maharashtra is tense after a night of violence where a young Dalit protestor was killed in a stone-pelting incident. Six people have been arrested in the case.Most of the protests are being led by various factions of the Republican Party of India - the leading platform for Dalits in Maharashtra.

Two youths were killed and another injured in police firing in Osmanabad in Marathwada region of Maharashtra.

In Mumbai, at least 91 Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport buses were damaged in stone pelting across the city, an official spokesman said, adding that four drivers and a woman passenger were injured in these incidents.